The trustee appointed to oversee Renewcell’s bankruptcy proceedings has extended the deadline for the receipt of offers for the troubled textile recycling firm. The deadline has been extended to 12:00 pm CET on 28 March, 2024 in order to accommodate expected bids from several interested parties, with a new owner expected to be announced in early April.
Renewcell, which opened the world’s first scale textile-to-textile recycling plant in late 2022, filed for bankruptcy last month after failing to secure enough finance to continue its operations. The appointed bankruptcy trustee is lawyer Lars-Henrik Andersson, at Stockholm law firm Cirio Advokatbyrå, who as well as handling the sale, is also responsible for dealing with creditors’ claims on the company’s assets.
Renewcell’s patented technology dissolves garments with high cellulosic content into a pulp which can then be used by fibre manufacturers to yield virgin-equivalent raw materials to make new clothing.
Initially, it seemed its plans to ramp up production at the factory to 60,000 tonnes of Circulose fibre a year – and later to double this to 120,000 tonnes – were on track but late last year it emerged that the company was running into difficulties.
Orders dried up and the company launched a strategic review in a bid to secure additional funding after confirming that it was no longer on track to meet its target of breaking even by the end of 2023.