Rouen (AFP)

Remade (refurbished smartphones) found a buyer, validated by the courts on Thursday, but 211 employees out of 328 will be laid off, and uncertainties remain about the medium-term financing of the young Norman company.

"It is the offer of the company Fourth Wave Technology which makes it possible, under the best conditions, to ensure the longest lasting employment attached to the set sold, the payment of creditors and which presents the best guarantees of performance", writes the administrative court of Rouen.

The Remade group, based in Poilley (Manche), near Mont-Saint-Michel, and launched in 2014, had reached a workforce of 680 people in 2019 before being placed with its subsidiaries in receivership at the end of September.

Regretting a "low sale price", 3.3 million euros, the prosecution had still issued a favorable opinion on the selected offer, in particular because of "commitments made by Suresh Radhakrishnan, during the hearing ", which had taken place behind closed doors on January 9, but of which the judgment made public Thursday gives an account. The British created Fourth Wave in 2019.

The administrators also "regretted the derisory nature of the proposed price" but also expressed a favorable opinion, stressing "the motivation of the candidate, his ability to mobilize family funds quickly" and to "exchange in complete transparency".

In addition the British "has export openings which seem essential", they underlined. This sale is "preferable to the cessation of activity even though the reconditioning activity deployed by Remade is in tune with the times", they added.

The second offer presented on January 9, by the founder and former CEO Matthieu Millet, who proposed to take over 142 employees, for 1.3 million euros, was strongly criticized during the hearing.

For the controller of the AGS (wage guarantee scheme), Mr. Millet's offer "can be described as dangerous, unrealistic and irrational", even though on paper his offer includes fewer redundancies and seems less expensive for AGS.

"160 million disappeared during (the) governance" of Mr. Millet and "under these conditions it is difficult for him to justify his economic model", said the judge-commissioner. Matthieu Millet is "involved in a declared liability of 191 million euros", added the legal representatives.

- "Out of strength" -

For their part, the employee representatives during the hearing "expressed the opinion of the employees in their diversity", with "on the one hand irreducible support for Matthieu Millet" and on the other "a majority of highly hostile employees to the latter and who would refuse to work with him ".

On January 9 the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) had expressed a favorable opinion, despite certain reservations, to the British offer.

At the end of the hearing, his lawyer, Vincent Pellier, had assured that "the candidate buyer is very confident in obtaining, if necessary, additional funding" from partners "especially in Russia and the Middle East".

Management summoned the employees to a GA on Thursday at 2 p.m. In the meantime, the Remades "at the end of their strength" after four audits in less than four months, are fighting so that the licensees do not leave with the only legal minimum, according to the CFDT.

They "placed the stocks of products for sale in sealed cages" to put pressure on the shareholders, Idinvest, LGT and Matthieu Millet, according to the union.

In mid-December, employees destroyed nearly 7,000 phones for the same reasons. According to management, Remade has a stock of at least 25,000 refurbished marketable IPhones. Mr. Millet has in the past been banned from running several other businesses. Remade is also the subject of a preliminary investigation by the Rennes prosecution for false balance and false invoices.

© 2020 AFP