Europe 1 with AFP 9:04 p.m., February 14, 2024

A thousand employees kept in limbo: the final examination of the safeguard plan for the 26 Galeries Lafayette stores owned by Michel Ohayon was postponed until February 21 by the Bordeaux commercial court.

No decision was made following the hearing held Wednesday behind closed doors, as negotiations continue between the investor and its creditors who have until February 20 to accept, or not, its continuation plan of activity.

The court will then rule and, if it does not validate the plan, will have to place the stores concerned in receivership, which have been in safeguard procedure for a year. They employ around 1,000 employees in Agen, Amiens, Angoulême, Bayonne, Beauvais, Belfort, Besançon, Caen, Cannes, Chalon-sur-Saône, Chambéry, Dax, La Roche-sur-Yon, La Rochelle, Libourne, Lorient, Montauban, Niort, Rouen, Saintes, Tarbes and Toulon, as well as in Tours, Pau, Rosny-sous-Bois and in an outlet in Coquelles near Calais.

“We will discuss again, we remain in a positive circuit”

“Colleagues are tired of waiting, their lives have been on standby for a year,” lamented Véronique Guichenay, CFDT representative, while a representative of the shareholder, Michel Maire, tried to reassure the assistance.

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“It’s long, I understand, but we’re going to discuss again, we’re staying in a positive circuit and we have to accept this plan, even if it’s not the best, because there is no other solution” , he told staff members who came to court.

According to a participant, the legal representatives gave the same speech at the hearing. But the inter-union representing the employees spoke out against the scenario proposed to exit the safeguard procedure which expires on February 22.

A businessman who owes nearly tens of millions of euros 

It remains to be known, above all, the position of the creditors, from whom Michel Ohayon asks to erase 70% of his debts and spread the rest over 10 years. Starting with Galeries Lafayette itself, from which he bought the stores in 2018 and 2021.

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The businessman owes several tens of millions of euros to the group, which remains his main supplier, for the supply of the shelves and the use of the brand, whose contractual conditions he also demands to be reviewed. Asked by AFP, the communications department of Galeries Lafayette did not comment.