A COMPANY has confirmed that it turned down a last- minute offer for a chemical business which closed with the loss of 160 jobs.

Basell, a joint venture between Shell and BASF, confirmed last year it was pulling out of its polypropylene plant at the Wilton site, near Redcar, blaming overcapacity in the market.

Yesterday, it was revealed that an anonymous company held talks with bosses about buying the facilities but pulled out.

Paul Baron, site manager for the firm, said: "We were approached quite late in the day and we had quite a lengthy period of discussion with that company under a confidentiality agreement. It didn't result in the sale of the assets and we are sticking to our original plan.

"We have treated all our employees very fairly, but I can understand that there is some concern about the impact the closure will have on the rest of Teesside. It is not something Bassel, unfortunately, can be responsible for. We have to look after our own interests.