SEVERAL expressions of interest from potential buyers for the Artenius chemical plant have been made, although no firm offers have yet been submitted.

The responses, which have come after 20 information packs were sent to interested parties, has been hailed as “encouraging,”

and comes just over a week after the Wilton site on Teesside was put into administration by its debtridden Spanish parent company, La Seda de Barcelona.

Last Monday, 137 people were made redundant by administrators, many were told over the phone, and 105 further jobs remain at risk unless a buyer for the site is found, or unless La Seda – which is trying to balance its books after making a £564m loss last year – decides to backtrack and keep hold of the site, which it has ploughed millions of pounds into over the past few years.

Despite the economic downturn and the problems in the La Seda group, plastics manufacturer Artenius – the first of the former Teesside ICI plants to go into administration – has remained profitable.

Furious workers, who claim they have been “cut adrift” by La Seda, are now looking into whether EU legislation can stop the business supporting divisions in its home country ahead of those in the UK.

The moves come ahead of trip to Spain on Friday by an Artenius delegation, which will include national chemicals officer for the Unite union Phil McNulty and Redcar MP Vera Baird. They are hoping to attend La Seda’s shareholder meeting.

Leaflets written in Spanish consisting of eight questions and ten facts highlighting the viability of the Wilton site have been produced, and will be distributed to shareholders outside the meeting in Barcelona.

Last night, The Northern Echo spoke to a group of workers made redundant from Artenius, most of whom had more than 30 years of service at the plant. They said that although they stand to lose tens of thousands of pounds through being paid the statutory redundancy payment instead of the terms laid out when the site was part of ICI, that is not their biggest concern.

“For us, the redundancy terms isn’t the main thing. We want our jobs back, we want to work. We have worked at this plant for years, but it has been starved of cash until it could no longer operate, and we think that is totally wrong,” one said.

Another said: “We want to make sure the shareholders know exactly what is going on over in the UK. On their website they are claiming they are supporting their workers, but we’ve heard nothing from them. We want answers.”