2023-04-17 17:46:03
The owner of Go Sport, HPB, one of the companies in the Ohayon galaxy, gave up presenting a continuation plan on Monday, on the eve of a hearing at the Grenoble commercial court on the future of the sporting goods distributor, in receivership.
“It is with regret that we announced to the commercial court that we are abandoning our draft continuation plan,” communications director Franck Geretzhuber said in a statement to AFP.
“We are very happy … It was surreal to make an offer when he did not have a penny in his pocket”, reacted Christophe Lavalle, Force Ouvrière delegate and member of the CSE of Go Sport while the 2,200 employees worried for several months regarding their future.
“We are victims of Michel Ohayon’s mismanagement, not of the economic situation,” he told AFP, assuring that no concrete plan had ever been presented to the employees.
According to HPB, it is the procedure adopted by the judicial administrators which “had the consequence of preventing the conclusion of the discussions that we had with a partner from the world of sport, strongly interested in our continuation project”. “In this case, we have been put in the way from the start,” assured AFP Franck Geretzhuber.
Because of this withdrawal, the court will devote itself on Tuesday to the study of the twenty offers to take over the activities of the brand that the Hermione People & Brands holding company had bought in 2021 for a symbolic euro.
On March 10, the day the takeover bids closed, HPB announced its intention to remain in control. At the same time, its management had tried to challenge the decision of receivership pronounced on January 19 by the commercial court by affirming not to be in a state of cessation of payment.
– Cease of payment –
But his appeal was rejected last week by the Grenoble Court of Appeal. “The company Groupe Go Sport is indeed in a state of cessation of payments on the date on which the Court of Appeal rules”, affirms the judgment which reports a shortage of available assets of around 30 million euros at the March 23 last.
The withdrawal of HPB comes as the group of Bordeaux businessman Michel Ohayon is going through a difficult period. After the liquidation of the Camaïeu brand (2,600 employees) last September, the group’s holding company, Financière immobilière bordelaise (FIB), declared itself insolvent, the Gap brand (350 employees) recently acquired by Go Sport has been placed in receivership and 25 Galeries Lafayette stores have been placed in safeguard proceedings.
The Paris public prosecutor’s office has opened a judicial investigation for “organized gang fraud, habitual money laundering, bankruptcy and abuse of social property”, as an extension of an investigation opened in Grenoble following “several revelations of criminal facts” reported by the auditors of HPB.
– One-upmanship –
Among the twenty or so applications for the takeover of Go Sport, two offers emerge: that of the Intersport France group backed by a Qatari company, and that of the British Frasers, via its company Sports Direct. “Two very serious offers, with limited social damage”, in the opinion of the FO delegate.
In a form of one-upmanship, the two improved their offer at the limit of the time allowed to modify the proposals, according to the file that AFP was able to consult at the registry. The decision of the commercial court on the transfer will be subject to deliberation.
The parent company Groupe Go Sport brings together the activities of the distributor’s headquarters, near Grenoble, and 46 master franchise stores abroad. Its subsidiary Go Sport France brings together 82 integrated stores, 87 franchise stores (Go Sport and Endurance Shop) as well as online sales.
In terms of sales, the Go Sport Group weighs just over 7 million in turnover for the year 2021, and Go Sport France just over 350 million euros, according to the announcement of the judicial administrators.
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