Camaïeu placed in judicial liquidation, 2,600 jobs cut

Europe 1 with AFP 6:10 p.m., September 28, 2022

The ready-to-wear brand Camaïeu was placed in compulsory liquidation on Wednesday by the Lille commercial court, which will lead to the elimination of 2,600 jobs in the northern company, two years after its takeover by its shareholder.

“The court converts the recovery into judicial liquidation,” said its president, arousing the tears of the employees who came to listen to the deliberations.

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The shareholder, Hermione People and Brands (HPB), still seemed to believe on Wednesday in a favorable outcome for the brand, placed in receivership on August 1.

The plan presented to the court would have limited the damage, with 500 jobs lost.

Nearly 80 million euros were needed

He said he was ready in the morning, like the Hauts-de-France region, to inject more money to avoid liquidation, but on condition that the State also provides financial support.

“The shareholder is ready to settle in a round table with additional financing”, had assured the management of HPB, its president, Wilhelm Hubner, calling “all public actors, State and local authorities” to a "urgent meeting".

HPB had indicated on Monday that it had requested an advance of 48 million euros from the State, but Bercy had judged that this request was not "realistic", the State not being able "in any case to replace the shareholders".

The shareholder hoped to gain some time to relaunch his brand, heckled by the health crisis and a costly cyberattack.

"The hour is serious, it requires the mobilization of all", insisted Wednesday Wilhelm Hubner.

A total of 79.2 million euros was needed, according to HPB, over the next eight months to ensure, among other things, purchases for the autumn-winter season and to prepare the spring collection.

"Shame on you, gravediggers of Camaïeu"

The plan provided for an outlay of 14 million euros from the Financière immobilière bordelaise (FIB) of businessman Michel Ohayon - of which HPB is a subsidiary - to buy the Camaïeu headquarters and warehouse in Roubaix.

These would then have been "valued" and resold for an estimated amount of between 55 and 60 million.

HPB "is the only one" able to save the brand, after the withdrawal of various takeover candidates, including the American fund Gordon Brothers, Wilhelm Hubner pleaded with AFP on Monday.

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About fifty employees, many wearing CGT and CFDT vests, gathered outside the court just before the hearing to welcome the shareholder's representatives to cries of "Shame on you, gravediggers of Camaïeu".

"I do not see how a decision other than judicial liquidation can be made," said CSE lawyer Justine Candat.

The unions were reserved on the guarantee of the financing

At the end of a CSE on Tuesday, the internal union UPAE and the CGT said they were "extremely reserved" on the ability of management to guarantee financing.

According to Thierry Siwik of the CGT, "two potential investors" had expressed an interest in another project built by his union, which had asked, without success, "additional time in court" to explore this track.

"Judicial liquidation would be a scandal and a disturbing sign of resignation," tweeted the diverse-right mayor of Roubaix Guillaume Delbar before the court announcement.

"The fate of 2,600 families is at stake," he said.

According to HPB, the sign changed after a judgment of the Court of Cassation imposing at the end of June on traders to pay unpaid rents during the Covid period.

Their amount amounts to 70 million euros out of a total of 240 million debts, said Mr. Hubner.

By taking over 511 of the brand's 634 stores in France and some 2,600 employees out of more than 3,100, HPB had given itself two years in 2020 to restore balance to the brand, founded in 1984.