The Galeries Lafayette group, owner in particular of the Parisian store on Boulevard Haussmann, sent a message to its customers on Monday to reassure them about their situation, while some twenty regional Galeries Lafayette stores, controlled by Michel Ohayon, must be saved.
The Galleries intend to “clarify certain destabilizing information” that their clients could have “learned about Galeries Lafayette in recent days”, indicates this message addressed to loyalty card holders, according to the specialized media LSA, which has first reported on Monday.
“For several months, the company Hermione, People & Brands, owner and operator of 25 Galerie Lafayette affiliated stores in the provinces since 2018, has been facing unprecedented difficulties with some of its assets such as Camaieu, Go Sport or Gap”, writes the group again Boulevard Haussmann, who confirmed the content of this message to AFP.
“Today, and in order to protect the 25 provincial stores that they own, Hermione, People & Brands and its owner Michel Ohayon have requested the placement in the safeguarding process of said stores, which continue to operate at the date”.
The safeguard procedure is aimed at companies whose cash flow is no longer sufficient to settle their debts but are not yet in default, in order to allow them to maintain their economic activity, employment and ensure the settlement of their debts.
“This disturbing and distressing situation in no way concerns your Galeries Lafayette store in Paris Hausmann,” rather than the “galerieslafayette.com” site, the group explains later in its message. Galeries Lafayette de Annecy sent a similar message to its customers to inform them that their store was not affected.
The list of Galeries Lafayette stores in question: Agen, Amiens, Angouleme, Bayonne, Beauvais, Belfort, Besançon, Caen, Cannes, Chalon-sur-Saône, Chambéry, Dax, La Roche-sur-Yon, La Rochelle, Libourne, Lorient, Montauban, Niort, Rouen, Saintes, Tarbes, Toulon, Tours, Pau, Rosny and the Coquelles Outlet
Bordeaux businessman Michel Ohayon, who made his fortune in real estate before buying retail chains such as Camaieu, Go Sport, Gap France or regional Galeries Lafayette stores, has been in turmoil for weeks.
Michel Ohayon in crisis for weeks
Camaieu was brutally liquidated in September, putting some 2,600 employees out of business, Go Sport was bankrupted by the Grenoble commercial court, and Gap France employees exercised a right of financial alert, as did Hermione’s approximately 750 employees. Retail, the entity in which the Galeries Lafayette owned by Michel Ohayon are grouped.
Michel Ohayon had initially indicated to Sud Ouest on Friday night that he was going to put his Galeries Lafayette “in suspension of payments”, but a spokesman had to correct the following day specifying that it was a request for a safeguard procedure that had been presented before Bordeaux. Commercial break.
This court also bankrupted the Financière immobilière bordelaise (FIB), Michel Ohayon’s holding company, with which he built his business and real estate empire, which includes several hotel palaces, including the Grand Hôtel de Bordeaux.
The latter, through its managing director Thomas Bourdois, clarified in a press release on Monday evening that “the situation affecting the company FIB, owner of the walls of the Grand Hôtel de Bordeaux, does not concern the operating company that operates in everyday life and employs its employees”.
Source: BFM TV
