Dutch renewable chemistry company Avantium has announced key changes to its management team.
Boudewijn van Schaïk, the company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and management board member, has resigned and will officially depart on May 9, 2025, to pursue other career opportunities. Avaitum appointed van Schaïk as CFO on Jan. 1, 2023.
Bert Cornelese will step in as interim CFO starting April 1. Cornelese brings extensive experience in financial leadership, having previously served as CFO for Ten Cate and Continental Bakeries, as well as interim CFO for Hunkemöller. He will hold the position until a permanent successor is appointed.
In another significant move, Avantium has appointed Bram Hoffer as its Chief Operating Officer (COO), effective immediately. Hoffer has been advising Avantium in a consultancy capacity since December 2024 and is now formally assuming the role. His career includes a tenure as Chief Technology Officer at chemical recycling firm Ioniqa Technologies, and over two decades at BASF in key operational and engineering roles across Germany, the USA, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Ioniqa filed for bankruptcy in October 2024 before making a comeback in a downsized capacity in December.
Additionally, Annelore van Thiel will join Avantium as director of Human Resources on May 1.
Avantium’s management changes come as the company posted 33.3 million in losses in 2024, a 21% decline in EBITDA compared with the previous year.
Discussing the 2024 financial year results, Avantium CEO Tom van Aken said in a statement that the completion of the company’s FDCA Flagship Plant in October resulted in cost increases and delays due to the need for extra materials and additional labour. Avantium secured an additional €116 million in financing from various sources in 2024 to partly offeset higher than expected capital expendifured and operating expenses.
He added that the company’s top priority in 2025 is the safe and successful start-up of the FDCA Flagship Plant. This February, Avantium announced a collaboration with Germany-based EPC Engineering & Technologies to commercialise continuous polymerisation of PEF.
The partnership aims to advance the continuous PEF polyester production technology, targeting plant capacities of 100,000 tonnes per year and beyond. Avantium and EPC will integrate their respective technologies and processes, together with the solid-state polymerisation (SSP) of Polymetrix, a Swiss polymer technology provider previously known as Bühler Thermal Processes.
Avantium is already working with Thailand-based SCG Chemicals (SCGC) to accelerate market adoption of FDCA and PEF in Asia.
Avantium officially opened its FDCA commercial plant in October 2024. Located in Delfzijl, the Netherlands, the plant is set to produce 5,000 tonnes of FDCA per year. The company has already established supply agreements for PEF or its building block FDCA, including Helios, Henkel, and Carlsberg. The conditional offtake agreements represent 95% of the capacity of the flagship plant for the first five years of operation.