The State granted a loan of 10 million euros to the company Alvance, owned by the Indo-British steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta, in order to avoid the judicial liquidation of three French foundries, while the sector is in turmoil, the economy ministry said on Monday (May 3rd).
This loan will benefit two subsidiaries of this company located in Ingrandes, near Châtellerault: Alvance Poitou Fonte, for € 3.3 million, and Alvance Aluminum Poitou, for € 3.6 million; as well as a third, Alvance Aluminum Wheels, established in Diors, near Châteauroux, to the tune of 3.1 million euros, the ministry said in a press release.
These three automotive suppliers from Vienne and Indre, totaling some 850 employees, were placed in receivership on April 20 by the Paris Commercial Court. They are the first companies in the Sanjeev Gupta group to have filed for bankruptcy since the fall of British finance company Greensill, to which the conglomerate owes billions of euros.
This loan is paid under the program of the economic and social development fund (FDES), according to a decree published on Sunday in Official newspaper. It allows“Avoid the immediate judicial liquidation of companies” and of “Finance a three-month observation period to search for buyers”, according to the ministry.
Fifty million euros for the retraining of employees
On March 20, the state had already intervened to save another French asset from Sanjeev Gupta. He had released a loan of 20 million euros for the Ascoval steelworks (located in Saint-Sauve, in the North), of the Liberty Steel group, also a subsidiary of GFG Alliance, “To pay salaries, the supplies necessary to run the plant and ensure that there is no disruption in activity”, promising employees not to “Never let them down”.
In their press release, the Minister of the Economy, Finance and Recovery, Bruno Le Maire, and the Deputy Minister for Industry, Agnès Pannier-Runacher say they are “Fully mobilized to support the search for buyers and implement the measures of the action plan for the automobile foundry”. A plan criticized by employees, who do not consider it ambitious enough while several French foundries are currently in great difficulty. In Caudan, in Morbihan, to protest against Renault’s decision to sell the Fonderie de Bretagne, employees have been occupying their factory for a week.
This ” action plan ” includes in particular an exceptional fund of 50 million euros for the retraining of employees and support measures for foundries towards the diversification of their activity. Indeed, the manufacture of parts for diesel and thermal engines is an activity considered doomed in the short or medium term, the end of the sale of thermal engines having been voted in France for 2040.