The judicial recovery of La Halle is entering a crucial phase. The brand, a subsidiary of Vivarte, was placed in receivership by the Paris Commercial Court on Tuesday, June 2. Court administrators, AJRS and FHB, have set June 9 as the deadline for submitting offers to take over the assets of the brand, the French heavyweight in the distribution of clothing in outlying commercial areas.
Some buyers demand to complete this file ” as quickly as possible “Reports an elected staff member, evoking the desire of the Beaumanoir group, main candidate, to obtain that” Vivarte finances purchases [de collection de La Halle] for next season “. A hearing should be scheduled for June 29 to endorse the recovery schedule. At this date, the 5,391 employees of the brand at the 830 stores should be definitively fixed on their fate.
“The dismissal of staff not affected by takeovers should take place in July and August”, estimates Loïc Riffaud, secretary of the social and economic committee (CSE), elected CFTC. Thousands of redundancy letters should then be sent. Because, “cIs now official, at least 2,200 La Halle employees will lose their jobs in the coming weeks “Deplores the inter-union CFTC, CFE-CGC, CGT, FO and SUD of the group, in a letter addressed to the Minister of Labor, Muriel Pénicaud, on June 2.
Indeed, the hypothesis of an offer covering all of the La Halle stores seems excluded. Half a dozen companies are in the running to buy a part of it. The Beaumanoir group, which owns the Cache-Cache, Bonobo and Morgan brands, swears that its first offer “Can be improved”.
Roland Beaumanoir, founder of the Falkland Islands company, says he is ready to take over 326 points of sale to operate them under the La Halle banner; 36 others would be switched to Vib’s, a clothing brand that Beaumanoir operates in 182 stores in France. In all, its offer would relate to 2,300 jobs, advanced Mr. Beaumanoir at the end of May, while La Halle was still under safeguard procedure.
Worry in warehouses
Other competitors from La Halle are in the ranks. Among them is Gémo, a clothing and shoe brand run since late 2019 by a former boss of La Halle, Philippe Thirache. This Eram group subsidiary is said to be willing to take over 40 stores. Chaussea and Besson, other players in the shoe trade, are said to be considering taking over other stores. Côte d´Amour, a wholesaler of household linen, is said to be a candidate for the takeover of around fifty units.
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