The sports store chain Intersport is preparing to make a takeover bid for its competitor Go Sport, in receivership, we learned on Thursday from a source familiar with the matter confirming information from Les Echos, while the group’s leader in difficulty was revoked.
This takeover bid must be submitted before Friday, the deadline for submission of bids to the Grenoble Commercial Court, which had placed Go Sport in receivership in February.
In addition, Go Sport’s general manager Patrick Puy has been sacked by parent company Hermione People & Brands (HPB), two months after his arrival, we learned from the latter on Thursday.
Asked by himAFPHPB did not want to comment on the reasons for this revocation, initially revealed by the newspaper The world and the specialized magazine LSAs. A specialist in business restructuring and recently deceased by Vivarte, Patrick Puy was appointed head of Go Sport on January 4.
Bought at the end of 2021 for a symbolic euro
HPB then presented him as “broken in the social dialogue in business”, responsible for “continuing the necessary transformation” of society. He was the second CEO in less than a year after Benoît Verdier, appointed at the end of February 2022.
Go Sport is also the subject of an investigation for “abuse of corporate property” after “the auditors transmitted several revelations of criminal acts”, according to the Grenoble public prosecutor’s office.
With losses for years, the group, founded in 1978 and based in Sassenage, on the outskirts of Grenoble, was bought at the end of 2021 for a symbolic euro by HPB from the parent company of the Casino food distribution group, the company Rallye , heavily in debt. The company employs just over 2,000 people.
In cessation of payments, the FIB is the holding company of the Bordeaux businessman Michel Ohayon, currently convulsed between financial difficulties and suspicions of fraud.
Its subsidiaries include HPB, which brings together several store chains including Camaïeu, which was liquidated in September 2022, Go Sport and Gap France, also in receivership. HPB was placed in receivership in January.
Source: BFM TV
