Justice will examine Tuesday two offers of recovery of the newspaper Paris-Normandy , from Belgian groups and the current owner of the daily. In both cases, 60 jobs are threatened while the local daily located in the former Haute-Normandie employs 254 people. The newspaper was placed on April 21 in bankruptcy which erased the debt, of about seven million euros, which had long weighed on the company.
"The employees voted, by a large majority, for the proposal of" La Voix du Nord "" which belongs to the Belgian group Rossel (shareholder of 20 Minutes ), already a candidate for a takeover of the newspaper in 2017, announced Saturday in a communicated the elected members of the CSE of Snic, the publisher of the daily newspaper, and of RNP, its advertising agency. For them, it is "by far the most serious and the most lasting" of the offers submitted.
Employees not in favor of NP holding's offer
A competing offer was submitted by NP holding, 51% owned by another Belgian group, IPM ( La Libre Belgique ), and 49% by Fininco, a holding company of Jean-Louis Louvel, current owner of more than 90% of the newspaper. Founder of PGS, a pallet company with 1,300 employees, and buyers of companies in difficulty, Jean-Louis Louvel was a candidate (supported by LREM, LR and the Centrists) in the first round of the municipal elections in Rouen, before giving up participating in the second round.
“The main stumbling block of IPM's proposal is the association with our shareholder Jean-Louis Louvel, who decided to abandon us and ask for the placement of our company in default. Worse, by taking back at the last moment part of the cash advance made by his company Fininco and the rents of the head office, Jean-Louis Louvel has taken our time to survive, drying up the company's accounts, ”accuse the employee representatives. in the CSE press release.
Over 22,000 paper subscribers
According to a document distributed during a general meeting of employees on Friday and of which AFP obtained a copy, Rossel, whose financial strength is qualified as "very good", brings three million euros in capital and promises an investment of 2, € 8 million over three years. For its part, NP Holding, whose financial strength is described as “good”, shows a capital contribution of two million euros. According to a source close to IPM, NP would also invest 1.5 million over two years.
In editorial terms, Rossel would keep the newspaper's ten agencies, while NP would cut seven, according to a reporter. Both offers to keep the printing press. Note that Paris-Normandie has 22,500 paper subscribers and 1,500 Web subscribers. In 2019, it circulated about 41,280 copies, or 6.9% less than in 2018, according to the Acpm, certification body for press audiences.
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