Belgian group Rossel buys daily Paris-Normandy

Text by: RFI Follow

The Rouen Commercial Court ruled on Monday June 15. The French regional daily Paris-Normandie, in liquidation, will be well bought by Rossel. The offer of the leading Belgian group in news media outweighed that of its competitor, the Belgian IPM. Already the owner of the newspaper La Voix du Nord and well established in France, Rossel is however considering job cuts.

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The thirty employees present before the Rouen commercial court applauded the news, even if it was a "  relief and not a victory  " according to a trade unionist. 

Rossel plans to cut 60 jobs out of 240, or a quarter of the workforce of the daily Paris-Normandy . But its takeover proposals inspired more confidence than those of its competitor IPM. 

Moreover, Rossel's offer had received the support of employees and the justice system during the first hearing because the support for future redundants seemed better to them. In addition, the Belgian media group, owned by the Hurbain family, has promised to keep the 10 local agencies and editions of the newspaper, while IPM plans to delete seven.  

►Also read: How the French media are trying to adapt to the coronavirus

The editor of the second Belgian daily newspaper  Le Soir has been pursuing a policy of takeovers and mergers for years and operates in Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Bulgaria. He owns, among others, Le Courrier picard , L'Union de Reims, half with the Ouest-France newspaper of the free 20 Minutes . In total, Rossel is made up of 76 titles, including 14 daily newspapers, more than 3,700 employees and 500 million euros in turnover.

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