RE:I predict Stankar will DEFAULTWell, I drew similar conclusions (see my post "German Radio MDR ..." from May 5th). There has been precedence of this in EFL's history: When they "acquired" Miljobil in Norway from the Tata Group, they promptly fired all employees, but had to re-instate one whose contract was iron-clad by Norwegian law. They obviously did a sweet-heart deal for Tata, who would have had to pay huge severance amounts to shut the place down in Norway.
The way I understand it, Evoniks is off the hook: these employees are now Sankar's. No way will he keep 200 (as per Gitanjali) or 150 (as per german press). With the Daimler contract gone to LG-Chem, keeping 100 people would still be hugely overstaffed.
What is still a little hazy to me: the NMP question. We heard all along that the NMP elimination will drop energy use (believable in principle, but probably exaggerated) and cost (...will see...). Given the fact that NMP is used by other manufacturers due to its high polarity as a solvent, that effect would have to be achieved by other means. Such other methods would most probably involve some form of surface preparation of the aluminum and copper foil used as current collectors for the cathode resp. anode. Such a conversion of the calendering equipment can't be done overnight, and it would take the factory out of production for some time. I understand that german law allows for temporary lay-offs, but as soon as this becomes a permanent feature, EFL would be on the hook for a "Sozialplan".
I am really curious how this will play out, or whether the NMP elimination claims will quietly be dropped. We will soon find out...