The northern ready-to-wear giant will not have resisted the crisis affecting the sector. The shareholder’s last attempt to avoid this outcome until the last moment by applying for state aid will not bear fruit. The Commercial Court of Lille announced, Wednesday, September 28, having placed Camaïeu in compulsory liquidation, which will lead to the elimination of 2,600 jobs in the company, two years after its takeover by its shareholder. “The court converts the receivership into judicial liquidation”said its president, arousing the tears of the employees who came to listen to the deliberations.
The shareholder, Hermione People and Brands (HPB), still seemed to believe on Wednesday in a favorable outcome for the brand, placed in receivership on 1is august. The continuation plan presented to the court would have made it possible to limit the damage, with 500 jobs cut. He said he was ready in the morning, like the Hauts-de-France region, to inject more money to avoid liquidation, but on condition that the State also provides financial support.
“The shareholder is ready to settle in a financing round with additional financing”had ensured the management of HPB, its president, Wilhelm Hubner, calling “all public actors, State and local authorities” to one “urgent meeting”. 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”the State cannot “in no way replace the shareholders”.
The shareholder hoped to gain some time to relaunch his brand, heckled by the health crisis and a costly cyberattack. “The hour is serious, it requires the mobilization of all”, insisted Mr. Hubner on Wednesday. A total of 79.2 million euros was 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 Minister Delegate for Industry, Roland Lescure, regretted the placement in judicial liquidation of Camaïeu, which he described as “great disappointment”while affirming that the priority of the State remained to accompany the employees. “The recovery plan was very poorly informed with a business plan that fits on one page, I am not able to commit more than 70 million [d’euros] of the State, I regret that we have come to this”did he declare.
“A worrying sign of resignation”
The plan provided for an outlay of 14 million euros from Financière immobilière bordelaise owned by businessman Michel Ohayon – of which HPB is a subsidiary – to buy the headquarters and warehouse of Camaïeu in Roubaix. These would then have been “valued” and resold for an estimated amount of between 55 and 60 million. HPB ” is the only one “ to be able to save the sign, after the withdrawal of various candidates for the takeover, including the American fund Gordon Brothers, had pleaded Monday Mr. Hubner, with Agence France-Presse.
About fifty employees, many wearing CGT and CFDT vests, had gathered outside the court just before the hearing to welcome the shareholder’s representatives to cries of “Shame on you, gravediggers of Camaïeu. » “I do not see how a decision other than judicial liquidation can be rendered”, had estimated the lawyer of the CSE, Justine Candat. At the end of a CSE on Tuesday, the internal union UPAE and the CGT said to themselves “extremely reserved” management’s ability to secure funding. According to Thierry Siwik of the CGT, “two potential investors” had expressed an interest in another project built by his union, which had asked, without success, “additional time in court” to explore this avenue.
“Judicial liquidation would be a scandal and a disturbing sign of resignation”had tweeted before the announcement of the court the various right mayor of Roubaix, Guillaume Delbar. “The fate of 2,600 families is at stake”he pointed out.
According to HPB, the sign changed after a judgment of the Court of Cassation imposing at the end of June on traders to pay unpaid rents during the Covid period. Their amount amounts to 70 million euros out of a total of 240 million debts, said Mr. Hubner. By 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.