MORE than 130 jobs are set to be created by the Korean takeover of the mothballed Artenius chemical plant in Teesside.

As reported in The Northern Echo yesterday, KP Chemical secured a deal to buy the Wilton plant, which had been in administration since July last year, on Tuesday night.

After its debt-laden former parent company La Seda De Barcelona placed the Artenius plant, which provides chemicals for plastic packaging, in administration, about 200 workers were made redundant.

Yesterday, it emerged that, as well as preserving the jobs of the remaining 41 employees at the plant, up to 132 more jobs were set to be created by new owners Lotte Chemical UK, a British subsidiary of KP Chemical.

Regional development agency One North East approved £1.8m Grant for Business Investment to help Lotte Chemical UK acquire Artenius.

The deal is still subject to European Commission competition clearance, but Daniel Butters, of administrator Deloitte, said: “We are delighted to have successfully signed the asset transfer agreement, which will secure the employment of the remaining workforce at Wilton, as well as creating significant new employment opportunities in the local area.”

Soo-Young Huh, chief executive and president of KP Chemical Corporation, said: “We welcome the employees transferring from Artenius UK into the Lotte family.

“This acquisition represents the next steps in the globalisation plans of the Lotte Group, which intends to reach around $40bn turnover in its chemical division over the next eight years.

“The start-up of this new business in as short a time as possible will be another significant challenge, but I am confident that the team will achieve this, and I am eagerly anticipating watching the first product leave the site in early April.”

Redcar MP Vera Baird said: “This fantastic news comes almost exactly six months since Artenius announced closure.

Then it was all despondency.

“We knew the firm was profitable, but it was saddled with debt by its Spanish parent company and there seemed nowhere to go.

“Now it is all delight. KP are a great new convert to all that is good about Tees Valley and for them it is exciting to have entered into their first British venture.”

Yesterday’s official announcement was a welcome boost to the Wilton site, which has been hit by a series of closures in the past year.

Invista has closed, Dow will shut at the end of the month and Croda is also set to close.

Ian Williams, director of business and industry for One North East, said: “This is a clear demonstration that the Wilton site remains an attractive world-class environment for business investors, and I would like to welcome Lotte Chemical UK to the region and look forward to a long and productive partnership with the company.”

Dr Stan Higgins, chief executive of the North East Process Industry Cluster, said: “This is great news for the process industry in the North-East and particularly for those based on the Wilton International campus.”