Gap France: elected staff activate their right to alert

The elected staff of the ready-to-wear brand Gap France exercised this Friday their right to alert in order to obtain information on the situation of their company, bought in 2021 for one euro by the HPB group (Hermione, People & Brands ), which announced the resale to Go Sport.

During a central economic and social committee (CSEC), Gap France’s elected officials, including those of the CFDT majority, followed in the footsteps of those of Go Sport, whose elected officials had requested the appointment of an administrator at the beginning of December judicial as part of an economic alert law procedure, said a trade union source who confirmed information from the Parisian. An expert designated by the CSEC will have two months to carry out investigations on the economic situation of the company and present his report.

Go Sport France is not in default

HPB, the distribution arm of Financière immobilière bordelaise (FIB), an investment fund owned by Bordeaux businessman Michel Ohayon, owner of the network of 21 Gap clothing stores in France, announced on January 12 “the acquisition of Gap France by part of Go Sport” for an amount of 38 million. This operation and the “lack of transparency” on the part of the management worry the 350 employees of Gap France, while Groupe Go Sport, the holding company of the specialized sports brand, was declared bankrupt in mid-January by the Court of Commerce. from Grenoble. The latter indicated “its state of cessation of payments”, but made the distinction with Go Sport France, which brings together the group’s stores and is not in a state of cessation of payments.

In Go Sport, the unions and the central economic and social committee (CSEC) have been alarmed in recent months by significant flows of money to the parent company HPB (Hermione, People & Brands), the entity that brings together the distribution activities purchased by Michael. Ohayon. The Grenoble prosecutor’s office confirmed in mid-January that it had opened an investigation in November for “abuse of social property” in relation to Go Sport, “the auditors (having) transmitted various revelations of criminal facts,” the prosecution had indicated, without further ado. what precision.