The chain of stores specializing in home furnishings is due to pass by the first quarter of 2021 into the fold of the German investment fund.
Eclipsed by its competitors like Leroy Merlin or Bricomarché, Lapeyre had become an asset that Saint-Gobain had wanted to sell for over a year.
The unions fear "social breakdown".
Saint-Gobain has finally found a buyer.
After months of wanting to separate from Lapeyre, the construction materials and distribution group Saint-Gobain announced that it had entered into exclusive negotiations with the German investment fund Mutares, in order to sell it the chain of stores specializing in layout of the house.
Completely doubled by its major competitors like Leroy Merlin or Bricomarché, Lapeyre had become an asset that Saint-Gobain had wanted to sell for over a year.
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"There will be social damage"
And it is therefore the German Mutares who should take up the torch.
Listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the investment fund specializes in the buyout of medium-sized companies.
This is not the first time that he has bought a French brand.
The fund has succeeded in relaunching several companies such as La Meusienne, a specialist in stainless steel tubes.
But this is not always crowned with success: a few years ago, the takeover of Pixmania was cut short.
So a new challenge awaits Mutares with Lapeyre.
"Nobody really knows what we are selling, our image is troubled" estimates a long-time employee at the microphone of Europe 1.
Suddenly, everyone internally expects closures among the 126 stores of the chain.
Saint-Gobain, which has also not specified the amount of the transaction, itself recognizes that the new owner "will assess the profitability of the stores".
"There will be social damage" translates a union representative.
A sale scheduled for the first quarter of 2021
"Confident in Lapeyre's ability to significantly improve its financial performance", Mutares has undertaken not to close any of the ten factories in Lapeyre France during the next two years.
Still, internally, we point out that some of these factories "duplicate" and that there will therefore be closures ".
The sale, which is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2021, remains subject to consultation with Lapeyre's representative bodies and the approval of various competition authorities.
"This operation will be the most important investment" of Mutares, specifies the fund which anticipates the "promising potential" of the market for home improvement products.