Two Chinese companies have been given the green light to acquire plywood producer Plysorol.

Shangdong Longsheng Import has joined forces with wood and packing company Honest Timber to buy the struggling French company for an undisclosed sum,

Plysorol, whose products include okoume, poplar and exotic panels, had been in receivership since November 28 last year. The company, which has three sites in France and production facilities in Gabon, was put under court protection following parent company Sonae Capital’s application for judicial recovery in the Commercial Court of Lisieux.

Its problems were blamed on reduced demand and market decline, while the global financial crisis had also presented serious obstacles to restructuring the company.

The new Chinese-owned operation, which was approved by the commercial court of Lisieux, northern France, was also backed by Plysorol’s workers and the local authorities.

Apart from promising to retain Plysorol’s 470 or so staff for the new three years, the new owners have pledged a €20m investment to update and modernise much of Plysorol’s machinery in order to improve the group’s efficiency.

Other targets include ensuring the reliability of supply and the quality of raw materials (Plysorol now has access to 1.1 million ha of concessions in Gabon); the development of new commercial outlets in Europe, Africa and the Middle East; and the implementation of an active third party certification policy.