Canada: Cirque du Soleil wants to take refuge from its creditors to restructure

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The famous circus, which simultaneously held around forty shows all over the planet before the Covid-19 epidemic, is trying to avoid bankruptcy. 

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With our correspondent in Quebec, Pascale Guéricolas

Faced with the risk of bankruptcy, the multinational based in Montreal now requests the protection of the court, at the court of Quebec, to protect itself from its creditors. This plan should enable it to have access to a loan from the Government of Quebec and to receive emergency assistance from its shareholders.

The company will also lay off 85% of its employees. In the short term, nearly 4,000 employees linked to the famous yellow and blue marquee of Cirque du Soleil will store their rings, unicycles and stage equipment.

The plan, negotiated with the shareholders of the American and Chinese funds, owners of the company , provides for an envelope for their payments, which some have been waiting for since January.

Cirque du Soleil's financial difficulties did not date from containment. By the end of 2019, it dragged a debt of nearly 1.2 billion euros. Some attribute it to the high price paid to the founder of the circus, Guy Laliberté, by investors in 2015. To make their assets profitable, they had to multiply creations all over the world, in addition to offering permanent shows in China and in Las Vegas in the United States.  

Today, the ex-seller and ex-acrobat would like to pilot the circus again. He is one of a group of buyers eager to take over the business. The Government of Quebec is also investing in it, provided that the head office remains in Montreal.

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