The La Provence group has 850 employees and publishes the daily newspapers La Provence and Corse-Matin (AFP/Archives/Christophe SIMON)
After months of uncertainty, the Bobigny commercial court validated on Friday the takeover of the press group La Provence by the shipowner CMA CGM for 81 million euros, a decision expected after an agreement with its competitor Xavier Niel, founder of Free.
“We authorize the transfer for the benefit of the company CMA CGM (…) of 89% of the shares making up the capital of the company La Provence” (which were held by the Bernard Tapie group in compulsory liquidation, Ed), writes the court of commerce in its order, consulted by AFP.
Nearly a year after the death of the emblematic businessman and then a long battle in the courts, CMA CGM and Xavier Niel’s group have long been torn for control of the flagship of the press in southern France. France, one of the world’s giants in maritime transport, takes control of a group which has 850 employees and publishes the daily newspapers La Provence and Corse Matin.
By offering these newspapers, CMA CGM, based in Marseille, is also making a remarkable entry into the world of media. The shipowner’s appetite does not stop there since Rodolphe Saadé is also in the running to take over the M6 channel, in a team led by Stéphane Courbit (FL Entertainment).
Rodolphe Saade in Versailles, on July 18, 2022, for a State dinner at the Grand Trianon, on the occasion of the visit to France of the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed ben Zayed al-Nahyane (POOL/AFP/Archives/Ludovic MARINE)
“I am delighted with this decision which comes to close several months of work and intense mobilization of all the parties”, welcomed in a press release the judicial liquidator of the Bernard Tapie group, Marc Sénéchal.
“This is excellent news for the CSEs and unions that I represent and who since the start of the procedure have been fighting for the CMA’s offer to be chosen”, also reacted to AFP their lawyer Catherine Szwarc. “Only this offer guarantees the sustainability of the titles La Provence and Corse-Matin, only this offer guarantees the maintenance of jobs and the development of the company”, she estimated.
– “A lot of expectations” –
Relief also from the unions: “We have a lot of hope and a lot of expectations. This period of uncertainty has put the company in great difficulty, so we are delighted with the arrival of this new shareholder after 10 years of “inertia under the Tapie era”, reacted to AFP Sophie Manelli, SNJ delegate from Provence.
“We are now awaiting the appointment of a new editorial director” continues the trade unionist, warning against a reproduction of “mistakes of the past with high-sounding names”. “We must give precedence to the competence and knowledge of the regional daily press, so that the skills of journalists can once again express themselves. We need to turn a page, we must go quickly to breathe new life,” she said. added.
The decision of the commercial court is the epilogue of a legal tussle that has pitted two billionaires against each other for months: Rodolphe Saadé, CEO of CMA CGM, to the boss of Free, Xavier Niel, who already owns shares in several media. (Nice-Matin, Le Monde…).
Xavier Niel in Paris, January 14, 2021 (AFP/Archives/JOEL SAGET)
It had been expected since the two groups had announced at the end of August that they had signed “an agreement for the repurchase by CMA CGM of all the shares (11%) held by NJJ, Xavier Niel’s holding company, in the capital of Provence.
The agreement between the two giants of the economy also provides for the creation of a joint venture in order to “develop a new printing press in the Var”.
The latter “is intended by the end of 2024 to ensure the printing of all” of the titles of the La Provence groups, excluding Corse-Presse, and the regional daily Nice-Matin, property of Xavier Niel, who is also a shareholder of the World individually, had specified the interested parties in a joint press release.
At the end of a second call for tenders launched in February, only the project to take over CMA CGM had been retained by the judicial co-liquidators, because “the best bid”, at 81 million euros against 20 million for that by Xavier Niel. This offer had also been validated by the six social and economic committees (CSE) of the company.
CMA CGM also recovers the “current account (of La Provence) opened in (its) books for an indicative amount of 8.1 million euros on January 1, 2022”.
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© 2022 AFP
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