The procedure concerns SAS Hermione Retail, Hermione TPR and Hermione Outlet, which include 25 stores and one outlet under the Galeries Lafayette brand in France.
The Bordeaux Commercial Court placed the Galeries Lafayette department stores owned by Michel Ohayon in safeguard proceedings on Wednesday, while pronouncing a salvo of legal redress for other companies of the businessman. The safeguard procedure concerns SAS Hermione Retail, Hermione TPR and Hermione Outlet, which include 25 stores and one outlet under the Galeries Lafayette brand in France, totaling 1,109 employees.
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Michel Ohayon bought twenty-two stores in 2018, located in Agen, Amiens, Angoulême, Bayonne, Beauvais, Belfort, Besançon, Caen, Cannes, Chalon-sur-Saône, Chambéry, Dax, La Roche-sur-Yon, La Rochelle , Libourne, Lorient, Montauban, Niort, Rouen, Saintes, Tarbes and Toulon, then three more in 2021 in Pau, Tours and Rosny-sous-Bois. The outlet is located in a shopping center near Calais. The employees of these stores were worried about their future since the liquidation of Camaïeu and the receivership of Go Sport, two brands also owned by the businessman.
“Develop and deploy a backup plan”
Staff representatives had exercised their right to alert at the end of December and the CFDT had called for a walkout last week. “This decision is good news for the company’s employees, for its economic partners and for the municipalities where the stores are located.“, commented in a press release the Financière immobilière bordelaise (FIB), holding company of the assets of Michel Ohayon.
“It will allow the managers of the company to develop and deploy a backup plan that will maintain the activity, preserve jobs and clear the liabilities, this under the protection of the court.“added the company. A six-month observation period was set. “It remains to be seen how this will end, between receivership, liquidation or, hopefully, continuation or transfer plan.“, declared at the end of the hearing Me Stéphane Kadri, who represents the employees of the stores concerned.
Read alsoCamaïeu, Gap, Go Sport… Rise and fall of Michel Ohayon’s empire
According to him, the situation – which Michel Ohayon generally qualifies as “healthy– actually varies a lot from store to store and potential buyers shouldn’t be rushed. Assignments “are not envisaged to date“said Me Baptiste De Fresse de Monval, one of Michel Ohayon’s lawyers.
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