Successful restructuring: long-established film manufacturer Rhein-Plast becomes part of the Ringmetall Group

Following successful restructuring, the traditional manufacturer of special films for the pharmaceutical industry, among others, will become part of the Ringmetall Group on 1 February 2022. This secures around 90 jobs and the continued existence of the two plants in Bad Dürkheim.

In mid-2021, Rhein Plast applied for the opening of insolvency proceedings in voluntary administration in accordance with § 270 ff, 270b InsO (“protective shield proceedings”) as a result of the unfortunate combination of the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of the raw materials crisis.

In the course of the preparation and implementation of the self-administration proceedings, Dr Felix Melzer, Dr Alexander Höpfner and Dr Sven Tischendorf supported the management of Rhein-Plast GmbH as general representatives both operationally and as experts in insolvency law. Nick Piepenburg and Marc Schneider (Turnaround Management Partners) provided business management support for the self-administration.

Together, they succeeded in bringing the Rhein-Plast company back into the “profit zone” in just six months and, on this basis, in finding an investor who will continue to develop the company and the site in the long term.

Long-term perspective under the umbrella of the Ringmetall Group

The Ringmetall Group will take over the business operations, the employees and the plants of Rhein-Plast at the company headquarters in Bad Dürkheim completely on 1 February 2022 by way of a so-called “asset deal”. Together with the existing holdings in the packaging sector, Nittel (Halle/Saale) and Tesseraux (Bürstadt), the Ringmetall Group covers a broad spectrum of the market for special packaging.

Existing management remains on board

The existing management team of Roger Eisemann (Managing Director), Thomas Eisemann (Head of Sales) and Christian Gumpert (Head of Production) will remain with the company.

Location and approx. 90 jobs secured

Thanks to the very constructive and open cooperation with the works council, it was possible to completely avoid redundancies within the framework of the self-administration procedure. 

The self-administration procedure could be completely avoided

Existing staff surpluses were reduced by the self-administration in mutual agreement with the affected employees and by setting up a transfer company.

Further development focuses on products for the pharmaceutical industry, among others

Rhein-Plast GmbH focuses on the production of primary packaging materials for the pharmaceutical industry and other applications with high hygiene requirements. With annual sales of approximately EUR 13 million in 2021, Rhein-Plast GmbH currently employs around 90 people.

Another success of act’s redevelopment practice

With the market-renowned self-administration proceedings of, among others, Picard, JMT, Hallhuber, Vossloh-Schwabe, WFS, Transfertex and Saurer Spinning Solutions already successfully concluded in 2020/2021, act AC Tischendorf’s insolvency and restructuring practice, led by partners Dr. Sven Tischendorf, MBA, Dr. Alexander Höpfner and Dr. Felix Melzer, is one of the market leaders in Germany.

Eigenverwaltung Rhein-Plast:

Roger Eisemann (Geschäftsführer)

Berater Rhein-Plast:

act AC Tischendorf Rechtsanwälte, Frankfurt: Dr. Felix Melzer (Generalbevollmächtigter),
Dr. Sven Tischendorf, MBA (Generalbevollmächtigter), Dr. Alexander Höpfner (Generalbevollmächtigter), Dr. Nina Honstetter (Arbeitsrecht)

Turnaround Management Partners, Düsseldorf/Frankfurt: Nick Piepenburg, Marc Schneider (§270b-Bescheinigung, Sanierungskonzept)

Kanzlei Weilbach – Unternehmensverkauf und Nachfolge, Pleisweiler-Oberhofen: Udo A. Weilbach (M&A-Prozess)

Administration of Rhein-Plast: Reimer Rechtswälte, Mannheim: Thomas Rittmeister

Ringmetall Group:
Christoph Petri (board member), Konstantin Win-terstein (board member), Rainer Carqueville, Clemens Aiple

Advisors to Ringmetall Group:
ACURIS Rechtsanwälte, Munich: Dr. Dirk Stahlberg, Dr. Gerd Müller-Volbehr
WPH GmbH & Co. KG Wirtschaftsprüfer, Schwabach: Stefan Maier