Paris (AFP)
The Paris Commercial Court has planned to deliver its judgment on November 2 concerning the takeover of the specialist distributor Bio C'Bon, placed in receivership in early September, AFP learned on Friday from concordant sources.
"The judgment will be rendered on November 2," a staff representative present at a hearing devoted today to the examination of the offers, information confirmed by the president of Biocoop Pierrick De Ronne and by the lawyer, told AFP. one of the other takeover candidates.
Biocoop, which was the first contender for the takeover heard by the commercial court on Friday morning, "has remained on [its] axis which is essentially the maintenance of activity and the sustainability of employment and activity" , Pierrick De Ronne told AFP.
Several groups covet the specialized distributor, which has a little over a thousand employees and 120 stores in France.
Biocoop, associated with another organic specialist, Marcel & Fils, plans to take over 104 out of the 120 stores in Bio C'Bon, but "100% of the employees, in the stores, in logistics or at the head office", ie 1,021 people (workforce as of September 30, 2020).
It has also "substantially increased" the amount of its offer, to 17.5 million euros.
This data, the "sale price", is important because it allows in particular to clear the liabilities of Bio C'Bon, that one of the potential buyers surveyed by AFP estimates at nothing less than 240 million euros.
Carrefour, for its part, offers a global sale price of 60 million euros, to which are added, according to the same source, more than 40 million euros of investments.
The listed company defends a broad takeover project: 107 points of sale and a total of 1,009 employees taken back or reclassified.
The Zouari group, franchisee of the Casino group and shareholder of Picard frozen foods, figures the overall sale price at 10 million euros and plans to take over 120 stores, i.e. 100% of the fleet, "100% of the store staff" and "100 % of logistics staff and all administrative staff ", according to a letter to employees consulted by AFP.
© 2020 AFP