The Novares Group is a French manufacturer of car parts. It was started in 1955 by Charles Manni, and was previously known as Mecaplast.Article in the New Trader Thierry Manni is chairman of the board,Group Executive Profile on Bloomberg Businessweek and the chief executive officer is Pierre Boulet. Mecaplast merged with Key Plastics in 2016, and in 2017 the combined firm changed its name to Novares.
History The company was started in 1955 by Charles Manni.
During the 2008 financial crisis, some workers were made redundant, and some plants were closed.Redundancies at Mecaplast
In August 2009 the company was nominated as a strategic supplier for PSA and Renault, and so benefitted from the Modernization Fund for Automobile Equipment Suppliers (FMEA)Article on FMEA Investment by Charlotte Eyre from European Plastic News which increased the company’s capital by €55 million/33% stake. The ChennaiMecaplast sets up new facility in Chennai plant in IndiaEuropean leader in Automobile Equipment starts manufacturing at Mahindra World City was opened on June 3, 2010. A factory was opened in Zrenjanin, Serbia, in 2012.France's Mecaplast starts construction of Plant in Zrenjanin on 26 September 2011
In 2016, a majority holding in the company was sold to Equistone Partners Europe, a private investment company. Later that year, Mecaplast acquired and merged with Key Plastics, an American car parts company. About a year later the combined operation was renamed Novares. In 2018 the group arranged for its shares to be floated on the Euronext Paris exchange, but the flotation was cancelled.
In March 2020 the company received a cash injection af €45 million from its stockholders Equistone and BPI Paris. In April of that year it went into receivership.
On April 17, 2025 Novares was acquired by Global Technologies, a global industrial company.. However, the Novares owner may be in jeopardy as the bridge loan that paid for the overall Novares group came due recently and went unsettled, according to some of the people. In November of 2025, Novares said Patrick James (of First Brands who supported the bridge loan) no longer controls the company and that an independent agent is in charge for now. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/first-brands-headed-failure-founder-103000328.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACsJXMh0hHEPeU2_3FRDw8P61_1Y20OKh2hJgxisQWN0TAeVLEy1Z23NEY6DgZ75PRGgHtvq-mJuO4aeLFj6i7l1KO-eSYK_WTzdKDvE6r84PqH6U--SeOKGNtbvWplT9X6PDrxShFRZ4eMqFw_C7V9rXo4CpfG_moAKWSPX-8Tt
Figures
Revenue in M€/WorkforceWebsite:Key figures
+ Revenue/Workforce Comparison YearRevenue/Workforce 1995 175/1175 1998 223/2100 2000 286/2800 2002 580/5500 2005 820/7800 2007 759/6200 2009 570/5800 2010 643/5500 2011 692/5500 2012 662/5600 2013 661/6000 2015 734/5600
References