The decision had been awaited for four days by the employees. Renault announced Tuesday, November 23, that it refused to support the plan to take over its Aveyron subcontractor SAM and its 350 employees by one of its former bosses, believing that it “Does not present the necessary conditions of sustainability and security”.
The automotive group, to which the Toulouse commercial court had given until Wednesday, November 24 to rule, “Regrets this situation, measures the consequences of its decision and will continue the dialogue with SAM employees in order to offer them alternative employment solutions within the Renault Group”.
Taken over in 2017 by the Chinese group Jinjiang, the Aveyron company of metallurgy, located in Viviez on the heights of Decazeville, had been placed in receivership on December 10, 2019, then, on September 16, 2021, in liquidation with extension of activity until December 10.
“Dry clearance”
After submitting a first offer in July, company manager Patrick Bellity sent a letter of intent on Thursday to take over this foundry, a letter accompanied by letters of support from the State and the Occitanie region.
But Renault, the last customer, also had to commit to “A defined load plan” before Wednesday, depending on the region, failing which the court could declare as early as Friday a “Dry liquidation” of the company, warned the CGT.
Gold, “Renault Group cannot commit to the Alty-Sifa takeover project”, Mr. Bellity’s company. “An in-depth analysis of the file does not confirm the sales assumptions presented in this offer. Once again, as had been observed in July 2021, this offer does not present the conditions of sustainability and security necessary for the company and its employees ”, judged the group to the diamond.
Besides, “There are strong doubts about the financial soundness, despite the external financial support envisaged, and the real investment and recovery capacities of Jinjiang SAM by Alty-Sifa”, according to the same source.
“Structural lack of competitiveness”
Renault noticed that it had been “The only industrial player to provide significant direct financial support to the company for many years with 42 million euros (…) to alleviate a situation made difficult by the structural lack of competitiveness ”.
In a separate file from another ailing subcontractor, Renault on the other hand said on Tuesday to support the company’s takeover plan: Alvance Aluminum Wheels, based in Diors (Indre), which has some 280 employees, would be taken over by the Saint-Jean Industries group.
“This support will result in the integration of the new company into its panel of suppliers of aluminum wheels intended for Renault Group’s European assembly plants”, according to the company.
Considerate that “This takeover project is certainly the last chance for society to turn around”, Renault said to commit “To consult the new company for the development and production of aluminum wheels under its technical know-how, thus enabling it to access a production volume of up to 500,000 wheels per year for the benefit of Renault”.