Camaieu and its 2,600 employees in the thread: the northern giant of women’s prêt-à-porter launched this Wednesday an “urgent” appeal asking for financial support from the State to convince the commercial court of Lille that it can escape liquidation, but the unions fear the worst.
A few hours before the court hearing, at 2:00 p.m., the shareholder, Hermione People and Brands (HPB), said it was ready to inject more funds to save the sign, if the State was on its side to agree. in bringing financial support. “The shareholder is ready to settle for a round of financing with additional financing,” HPB management assured. Its president, Wilhelm Hubner, summoned “all public actors, state and local authorities” to an “urgent meeting” to finance the rescue of the brand.
HPB had indicated on Monday that it had requested an advance of 48 million euros from the State, but Bercy had judged that this request was not “realistic”, as the State could not “in any case replace the shareholders”. The shareholder’s continuation plan, which the court is due to examine on Wednesday, two months after the brand was declared bankrupt, provides for the closure of 208 stores and the loss of around 500 jobs, but would prevent the social catastrophe of a liquidation: 2,600 jobs lost.
“The situation is serious”
The shareholder hopes to buy some time to relaunch his brand, interrupted by the health crisis and a costly cyber attack, but he needs funds. “The hour is serious, it requires the mobilization of all,” insisted Wilhelm Hubner on Wednesday. Hauts-de-France LR chief Xavier Bertrand “asked to have an exchange on Camaieu with Prime Minister” Elisabeth Borne, whom he is accompanying on a visit to the Oise, his cabinet said. For the Region, “the only solution is a reimbursable advance from the State.”
A total of 79.2 million euros is needed, according to HPB, over the next eight months to ensure, among other things, purchases for the autumn-winter season and to prepare the spring collection. The plan so far provides for an initial payment of 14 million euros from the Financière immobilière bordelaise (FIB) of businessman Michel Ohayon -of which HPB is a subsidiary- to buy the Camaieu headquarters and warehouse from Roubaix.
These would then be “valued” and resold for an estimated $55-60 million. HPB “is the only one” able to save the brand, following the withdrawal of several takeover candidates, including US fund Gordon Brothers, Wilhelm Hubner said on Monday.
“Fear of a Disappearance”
The unions themselves are preparing for the worst: Following a CSE on Tuesday, the internal union UPAE and the CGT said they were “extremely reserved” about management’s ability to guarantee financing. “We still have leads, but certainly not with Wilhelm Ohayon and his representatives,” said the CGT’s Thierry Siwik, who called a strike on Wednesday. “Two potential investors” have expressed interest in another project built by their union and the CGT “will ask the court for more time” to explore this avenue, he said.
“Only the FIB is in the race, we have the choice between him and nothing,” considers Nordine Misraoui, from the CFDT, who “fears a disappearance of the company” and wants Bercy to take “more time to weigh the pros and cons”. “Judicial liquidation would be a scandal and a worrying sign of resignation,” tweeted the right-wing mayor of Roubaix Guillaume Delbar on Wednesday. “The fate of 2,600 families is at stake,” he said.
According to HPB, the sign changed after a ruling by the Court of Cassation imposed at the end of June on merchants who paid unpaid rent during the Covid period. Its amount amounts to 70 million euros out of a total of 240 million debts, according to Wilhelm Hubner. Taking over 511 of the brand’s 634 stores in France and some 2,600 employees out of more than 3,100, HPB had given itself two years in 2020 to restore balance to the brand, founded in 1984.
Source: BFM TV
