LONDON — Printed circuit board manufacturer Ruwel GmbH (Geldern/Pfullingen, Germany), which filed for insolvency earlier this year but continued to operate at a reduced level, is now planning to commence redundancies amongst its 600 staff.

Ruwel has been one of Europe's biggest PCB makers, focusing heavily on the automotive sector.

It says that no investor has been found for all or part of the company's activities so it has been forced to commence consultation with the workforce regarding layoffs.

Up to the end of this month, employees at the Geldern and Pfullingen sites have been getting their salaries as insolvency payments from the German employment office.

However, the provisional administrator has suggested to the insolvency court that insolvency proceedings be started on May 1.

Ruwel said in a statement Thursday (April 16) that the company would have had to defray all their costs themselves starting May, but it is no longer able to.

"On grounds of the ongoing crisis of the overall economy and particularly the automotive industry it will not be feasible to preserve the complete business activities under these conditions. Underused capacities, even in Asia, will further intensify competition," the company said.

It added production will continue for the time being in order to finish the existing orders. New orders recently placed by customers will also be met so that about half of the workforce will continue to be employed even after May 1.

In 2006, Ruwel AG received an undisclosed investment from a consortium comprising Bear Stearns, Blue-Bay Asset Management and Cargill Value Investment. The consortium was able to take over all the loans Ruwel had outstanding with a consortium of German commercial banks and savings banks.

Ruwel now says in this difficult situation it was not possible for these investots to continue supporting the company.

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