After four months of receivership, the Bordeaux Commercial Court has decided: among the of the three bids, it validates the one submitted by Condat Solutions a subsidiary of the SPB group, for the Condat site at Le Lardin-Saint-Lazare in the Dordogne. Of the 202 employees at the Lecta Group paper mill, only 21 have been retained. Condat Solutions plans to convert the plant to glassine, but paper production could nonetheless resume.
SPB, Société de participation de la Braye, is a Franco-Canadian fund based in the Eure region of France. It is headed by Olivier Huot, in association with Canadian industrialist James Dottori. The buyer is highlighting the conversion of another paper mill, at ArjoWiggins in Bessé sur Braye, Sarthe. The former paper mill has been producing medical gloves under the Manikheir name since April 2024.
Condat, soon a multi-activity site
Condat Solutions' industrial project, which should eventually create 300 jobs, is based on four key areas.
The first involves the installation of an aluminum recycling unit, with an announced investment of 45 million euros and a timeframe of 30 to 36 months.
The second is for a nanocellulose production unit, notably for the cosmetics and adhesives sectors, worth 50 million euros over a comparable timeframe.
An energy cluster is also planned, based on the production of hydrogen-based energy for self-consumption, with an estimated investment of 50 million euros over 24 to 30 months.
Finally, a data center dedicated to artificial intelligence represents the largest investment, announced at 400 million euros.
Paper production under study
Paper production at this mill has not yet been finalized. According to France Bleu a five-month feasibility study has been entrusted to the Austrian group Delfort, which specializes in food and industrial papers, to assess the possibility of restarting machine 8, currently dedicated to glassine paper for labels.
