The approval clause "obstructs the process of realizing the assets of the judicial liquidation of the Bernard Tapie Group (..) and constitutes a manifestly unlawful disorder", writes the judge of the Marseille commercial court in an interim order that l 'AFP got it.
The justice thus accedes to the request of the judicial liquidator of the Bernard Tapie Group who wants the judge commissioner to have complete freedom on the choice of the buyer of the shares in La Provence.
"I am very satisfied, it was not won at all but there was an exceptional situation: you cannot be both a player and a referee. But Niel was both", responded Me Bernard Vatier, lawyer for the liquidator. , interviewed by AFP.
"We intend to make no obstacle to Niel, we just have the concern of Provence", he added.
The articles of association of the newspaper, which employs 650 people, provide for an "approval clause" which means that the sale of the majority of the capital is subject to the approval of the minority shareholder.
It is the State which imposed this type of specific clause on the press companies to preserve their independence, recalled Me Christian Lestournelle, one of the lawyers of Xavier Niel, founder of the telecommunications operator Free, who says himself to AFP "very very surprised by this decision".
The circulation of La Provence, one of the flagship dailies in the South-East of France, has shown a steady decline in recent years, dropping from around 100,000 daily copies in 2017 to around 75,000 today.
The La Provence group also owns Corse-Matin.
Bernard Tapie's companies have been in compulsory liquidation since 2020 and were ordered to pay around 400 million to the structures managing the liabilities of Crédit Lyonnais.
© 2022 AFP