In view of the financial position of KemOne, its chairman, Gary Klesch, filed for insolvency with the Commercial Court of Lyon, KemOne said.
KemOne, which is headquartered in Lyon, operates at 22 industrial sites in 10 countries and has 2,600 employees, of whom 1,780 are based in France, according to figures published on its website.
The company will continue to operate as normal during the administration proceedings.
The KemOne management team said it was confident in the commitment of its former shareholder, Arkema -- which agreed to divest its vinyl branch to the Klesch Group in July 2012 -- and its main supplier, Total, to find sustainable solutions for its activities, with the full support of the French government.
The news follows a protest Monday by KemOne employees, a KemOne labor-union source said Wednesday.
"We [the employees] are convinced that the company is viable. We are looking for another buyer," he said, adding, "We did not go on strike and want to continue production to demonstrate the viability of KemOne to our suppliers, the tribunal, and the judge."
The Klesch Group said earlier in March it was seeking damages of Eur310 million ($403 million) from Arkema, the former owners of the KemOne assets, saying it was misled by information provided at the time of the sale.
This was denied by Arkema, but the Klesch Group said that months of discussions had not resolved the dispute, hence its request for formal arbitration.
