SHAREHOLDERS have given the green light to plans to sell two East Lancashire businesses to a German, firm as part of a £329 million deal.

The sales of Scapa Scandia of Blackburn and Scapa Forming at Stubbins, are now expected to be completed by July 1.

At an extraordinary general meeting held by their Blackburn-based parent company, shareholders agreed to the disposal of the businesses, which are part of its paper machine clothing business division, to Voith.

As soon as the sale finally goes through, managers at Voith will look at how to merge the East Lancashire factories, which employ more than 500 people, with its existing paper machine clothing division. But the firm has said it could be up to two years before any restructuring which may affect Scapa Scandia and Scapa Forming is complete.

Voith's paper machine clothing division already has sites in Germany, the US and China.

Following the buy-out, Ivan Fearnheard, a board director of Scapa who has worked for the group for 30 years, will become the head of the newly-merged division. Voith is a 132-year-old family-owned paper machine business employing more than 12,000 people. It operates sites across the world, including ones in Manchester and Croydon.

Scapa, which has its headquarters in Preston New Road, Blackburn, is selling the businesses because it says it wants to concentrate on other parts of its business, such as its specialist tapes division.

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