April 1, 2026 16:13

DOMO Chemicals’ plant in Leuna, Germany, which entered insolvency proceedings at the end of last year (read article) together with the group’s two other German companies, will remain in operation.

Lucas F. Flöther, the provisional insolvency administrator and a partner at law firm Flöther & Wissing, has succeeded in finding a buyer for the plant operated by DOMO Caproleuna, which employs 436 people: a special-purpose vehicle set up for this purpose by InfraLeuna and Leuna-Harze. The former manages the infrastructure of the chemical park where the plant is located, while Leuna-Harze is an epoxy resins producer operating at the same site.

“This was a last-minute rescue in what was, in every respect, an extraordinary proceeding,” said Lucas Flöther. “As there were virtually no financial resources available within the company to fund ongoing operations, under normal circumstances the DOMO Caproleuna chemical site would have had to be shut down as early as January. However, this was not possible for purely practical reasons: in winter temperatures, the facilities cannot be safely shut down without posing environmental risks.” For this reason, the Land of Saxony-Anhalt had ordered, under a so-called substitute performance measure, that the facilities continue operating in a reduced emergency mode until the end of March at the latest (read article).

Ownership of the plant, which produces caprolactam, phenol and polyamide 6, was transferred today. Going forward, the company will operate under the name Leuna-Polyamid GmbH.

The buyer, which is also taking over 436 employees out of a total workforce of 500, will finance operations going forward, allowing the state to discontinue its support and revoke the substitute performance measure as planned. Workforce reductions, under an agreement reached with employee representatives, will take place through voluntary resignations or the expiry of fixed-term contracts. For 39 employees, however, redundancies for operational reasons proved unavoidable.

The agreement does not cover the group’s other German plant, operated by DOMO Engineering Plastics GmbH in Premnitz, Brandenburg, which employs around 70 people.
The company will continue operating within the framework of the opened insolvency proceedings under the administrator’s management. “Creditors support the continuation of business operations while talks with potential investors are ongoing,” Flöther explained. The Belgian parent company is also said to be seeking buyers for the polyamide 6 compounding activities carried out in Premnitz. “If a solution for the site emerges in this context, we would be open to that as well,” the administrator concluded.

The third company to enter insolvency, DOMO Chemicals GmbH, based in Leuna, houses only the administrative functions of the three German companies. After a transitional phase lasting throughout April, the company is expected to shut down, resulting in the dismissal of its 35 employees.

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