The manufacturer of Caddy supermarket trolleys has finally found a buyer, after a collective procedure with twists and turns. The commercial chamber of the court of Saverne (Bas-Rhin) has, in fact, accepted, Tuesday, March 22, the takeover offer made by the northern group Cochez. Active in exceptional transport and industrial services, the latter has distinguished himself in the past in several business takeovers, from the Petit Pierre cannery to the Calais laces. The name of Caddy, the unique character of the Alsatian factory and the skills of its employees convinced him to join the project initially developed by the CEO of Caddy, Stéphane Dedieu.
The new company Caddie SAS thus takes over the assets of Caddie France for an amount of 250,000 euros, as well as 113 employees out of 139. Pascal Cochez is the majority shareholder, with 66% of the shares. It provides 495,000 euros in equity, as well as 300,000 euros in current funds. The consortium led by Stéphane Dedieu, which brings together several suppliers of the trolley manufacturer, as well as the Italian distributor of the brand, brings, meanwhile, 255,000 euros, for 34% of the capital.
The financial round is supplemented by aid for the takeover of the Grand Est region in the amount of 4,000 euros per employee (i.e. a total of 452,000 euros) and a subsidized loan from the State of 418,000 euros over six years. . We are far from the 3.8 million euros announced by the former leader during the first hearing of the procedure, at the end of February. The buyers have not succeeded in obtaining a bank commitment in this file, apart from a factoring contract of three million euros, negotiated at the last minute by Pascal Cochez to cover the working capital needs of the company. ‘business. As a result, the takeover project has been revised downwards: the extension of the plant initially planned for the first year has been postponed to 2023, and the inventory forecasts have been reduced to one month, compared to two previously.
“Reduce the number of references”
It now remains to raise the bar. “We are going to bring production back in-house, such as that of trolleys intended for the hotel industry, currently manufactured in Italy. We will also reduce the number of references to focus on those with the most requests. A key factor in the recovery will also be to pass on the increase in production costs to selling prices.”says Pascal Cochez.
On this last point, Caddy could paradoxically take advantage of the current period, which makes price increases inevitable in the eyes of customers. The manufacturer will also quickly change its general manager. “We need a management control expert who knows the cost price. It was on this point that the company mainly sinned. He will also have to be an expert in management, given what the employees have been through in recent months.emphasizes the entrepreneur.
Its predecessor, however, does not mope. Stéphane Dedieu remains a director of Caddie SAS. Above all, he keeps his commitments within the fifteen or so companies of which he is a director, even CEO. And who, for many of them, gravitate within the Caddy galaxy, as service providers or suppliers.