As a reminder :
Recylex SA notes, in view of the offers received as part of the asset disposal process that the Company had initiated in May 2021, (i) that it will not have sufficient financial resources to allow debt restructuring in a amicable framework, and (ii) that it will be impossible to implement the planned asset disposal program in an in bonis1 framework.
The offers received by the Company to date are as follows:
• An offer valuing the industrial sites of Escaudoeuvres and Villefranche-sur-Saône as well as the securities of the subsidiary C2P SAS at an amount of less than 2.5 million euros and allowing the maintenance of activity and jobs ( 60 jobs in total);
• Two offers valuing the 50% stake in Recytech SA at €40 million, this stake being notably the subject of a first rank and second rank pledge in favor of Glencore International AG;
• Offers valuing the closed L’Estaque site at an amount of less than 0.5 million euros (with the assumption of environmental rehabilitation obligations by the potential buyer).
These amounts should be compared with overall net debt of €52.2 million, to which are added provisions for environmental risks and liabilities of €16.2 million2, i.e. a total of €68.4 million . The Company does not expect to receive any other offers given the significant efforts undertaken to find potential buyers.
This asset disposal process is part of an amicable prevention procedure (conciliation), underway for several months, at the initiative of the Company and which will end on April 15, 2022 without a debt restructuring plan could have been approved.
In addition, a very large part of the group’s debt will also become due after April 15, 2022.
Consequently, the Company will be in a state of insolvency and is preparing to request the opening of receivership proceedings before the Commercial Court of Paris, under the conditions provided for by law3.
The company notes that the conditional offer received relating to the two industrial sites (including its subsidiary C2P SAS located on the Villefranche-sur-Saône site) and issued by the company Campine NV, is likely to maintain the activities of the sites Group industrialists and related jobs. However, the lifting of the conditions remains to this day still uncertain.
This offer remains subject to an agreement between Campine NV and the French State services on the amounts of the financial guarantees that the buyer should put in place in the event of the resumption of operation of these two sites which are classified as “Seveso”.
If the Court grants the request for the opening of receivership proceedings, this procedure will allow the Court to examine the offer received from the company Campine NV and to study a legal solution for the restructuring of the Company’s debt.
As this offer is the only offer relating to industrial sites, the Company will request that Campine NV’s offer be examined by the Commercial Court of Paris according to the terms of the sale prepackage – this implying, in particular, an accelerated timetable – in order to limit the consequences on the activity and employment of industrial sites.
The process of asset disposal carried out by the Company since May 2021, in parallel with the process of restructuring its debt, is thus placed in the hands of the Commercial Court of Paris.
In the event of the opening of a receivership, it should however be noted that, given the size of the debts and other liabilities, and the low value of the assets resulting from the offers received, the prospects for adoption of a recovery plan, in parallel with the planned sale prepack, remain uncertain.