This Monday, the Lille commercial court declared the last French train wheel manufacturer, Valdunes, with 320 employees, abandoned in May by its Chinese shareholder MA Steel, and which is looking for a buyer, into receivership.
The court, which confirmed a situation of default on payments on November 8, considers that a “recovery plan is possible.” Representatives of the company and workers will appear at a first hearing on January 17.
Valdunes has around 320 employees spread between a foundry in Leffrinckoucke, near Dunkirk, and Trith-Saint-Léger, near Valenciennes, where wheels and axles are machined. “At this time, we do not have any expressions of interest for the two sites, but we have separate expressions of interest for each of the two sites,” stressed Industry Minister Roland Lescure during a telephone press conference.
The State and the Hauts-de-France region announced in mid-October that they would make a financial commitment to support a possible recovery. “We now hope that the receiver can transform these expressions of interest into a public takeover offer and that the company can be acquired by a buyer who guarantees its sustainability,” reacted one of Valdunes’ lawyers, Me Jean-Charles. Gancia. “There is hope of finding a serious buyer for the two sites,” said Maxime Savaux, elected (CGT) to the company’s CSE.
“The Valdunes solution cannot be Franco-French”
In September, the general secretary of the CGT, Sophie Binet, requested the acquisition of Valdunes by an Alstom-SNCF consortium, two large clients of the company. An avenue that has since been ruled out, as SNCF and Alstom are willing to “play their role as responsible buyers,” but not to become majority shareholders, according to the ministry. “The Valdunes solution cannot be Franco-French,” Roland Lescure said on Monday.
According to the ministry, Valdunes, which currently produces an average of 30,000 wheels per year, should produce at least 80,000 to be profitable, that is, double the needs of the French market, SNCF, RATP and Alstom combined. The company, which has the necessary liquidity to operate until March, could need 65 million euros of investment in three years to relaunch its activity, Bercy estimates, indicating that on Thursday it will present two reports on its precise needs. “The possible transformation of sites into other activities is one of the possible scenarios,” explained Roland Lescure.
“Politicians have the responsibility to save the French railway,” replied Maxime Savaux. “They talk to us about the environment, ecological transition, green railway, national sovereignty. There we meet all the requirements,” he told the employees who had traveled to the commercial court.
Source: BFM TV
