It is a relief for Pierre Basid. The only potential buyer of Carmat, a French badge of the artificial heart, exclusively trusted BFM businesses after the Versailles court validated the postponement of the audience on September 30. An additional welcome period for the president of the Board of Directors of the manufacturer of Heart Aeson, well determined to develop muscle as much as possible its recovery offer.
And this, although Carmat is plagued by significant financial difficulties. Created in 2008, the company, whose headquarters is in Vélizy-Villacoublay (Yvelines), is so breath that it even launched a donation campaign in June. In the absence of money, I hoped to gather 3.5 million euros before June 30, as well as 20 million euros by the end of the year.
But the aid calls were not enough and Carmat resolved, in a counterproteo, to request their placement in judicial administration at the beginning of the summer. Then a call to tenders was launched and only Pierre Basid showed himself to save the manufacturer of artificial hearts.
While the Versailles commercial court should decide on the only acquisition offer submitted within the time limits on Tuesday, August 19, the judges accepted the request to postpone the hearing issued by Pierre Basidid, to put the possibilities on their side.
1 million euros already on the table
According to the offer that BFM Business has consulted, the businessman, already holder of 20% of the company, is already committed to putting a million euros at the table to save Carmat, through his Belgian family company. But in addition to the purchase price, it undertakes to provide 150 million euros for five years, including 40 million for next January.
For this, the former head of Schneider, Valeo and Thomson, who arrived at the Chief of the Board of Directors of Carmat in June 2024, does not lack motivation: he has already invested 60 million euros since 2017 in Carmat. And to finance its acquisition, it has just sold a prestigious real estate asset in New York, estimated at $ 76 million. But the task is delicate.
Therefore, the president of the Board of Directors of Carmat placed another financing track, which is not mentioned in the acquisition offer presented in the court and consulted by BFM Business. “I launched the sale of a business that I have, Eoliance. The process is following its course, there are positive signs,” he said.
It remains to be seen if you will find a buyer for this company. According to the data available in the documents, Eoliance is a company specialized in the air management of the share capital of 22,298,423 euros. But their results are not happy: -2.07 million euros for Ebitda, -2.17 million for operational gain, -420,000 euros in net income. And the billing has dropped 8.4% in 2024.
Objective assume most employees … but not necessarily all
Above all, the additional period granted by the Commercial Court of Versailles must allow Pierre Basid to estimate more specifically the payroll that could be ready to maintain. In fact, the acquisition offer we have consulted is ambiguous: in two different pages, it is mentioned that the employer intends to resume the entire workforce “necessary for the resumption of the activity” and “all contracts.” While employees already waited for the result on Tuesday and felt a certain frustration of having to wait again, Pierre Basid indicates that costs have not yet ended.
Looking for co-investors
Finally, Pierre Basid intends to take advantage of the additional time to find other sources of financing to give Carmat a new life. “I am looking for co-investors,” says the one who believes hard as iron in the future of the manufacturer of artificial hearts, despite his bad financial results in recent years.
“It’s like sending someone to the moon, it is a similar break. Today, to get where we are in Carmat, we put 150 million. I am not in the Medtech field, but according to the reference point, 150 million, it is not huge. Therefore, it is an important investment, but I would not say that it is a click,” he considers commercial businesses. “We are almost there, it is a penalty to stop so close to the goal,” he concludes.
Source: BFM TV
