The historical family shareholder of the French toy group King Jouet largely takes over Maxi Toys. This will save 826 of the more than 1,200 jobs of the Belgian toy chain, the French company said on Tuesday.
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This is a takeover by the historical shareholder of King Jouet – the Gueydon family – through the new legal entity New MT (New Maxi Toys). The Maxi Toys brand name will continue to exist, the current management will remain in place and the chain will be managed autonomously, it says.
New MT will acquire two thirds of Maxi Toys’ assets. The headquarters will remain in Houdeng-Goegnies in Hainaut and the distribution center located there (Logitoys) will remain operational. A total of 22 of the 54 Belgian stores will be taken over, in France 95 of the 129. As a result, a total of 826 jobs will be saved in both countries.
As far as Belgian stores are concerned, this concerns 20 of the 26 Maxi Toys stores that are being acquired and only 2 of the 28 Maxi Toys City stores, the former stores of Bart Smit, which are mainly located in Flanders, a spokeswoman clarifies. Maxi Toys took over Bart Smit’s Belgian stores early last year from the bankrupt Dutch Intertoys. In New MT, only the Maxi Toys City stores in Brussels and Nivelles remain on board, says the socialist union FGTB.
139 employees
A total of 32 stores in Belgium with, according to the FGTB, all together 139 employees are excluded from the takeover. To this end, the trustee continues to look for a solution in the judicial reorganization proceedings that will run until 18 November. Due to the disappearance of those stores, New MT will not take over all the staff of the distribution center in Houdeng-Goegnies: 31 people will lose their jobs, according to the socialist union.
According to Philippe Gueydon, CEO of King Jouet, “the complementary nature of the brands and networks” and “the possible synergies” offer opportunities for Maxi Toys. “Our brand was in trouble, but it is built on a healthy and solid foundation,” says Maxi Toys CEO Alain Hellebaut. “The acquisition by New MT will first of all make it possible to make the coming Sinterklaas and Christmas season a success.”
Maxi Toys filed for protection against its creditors in May. The company has been “badly affected” by the corona crisis and saw “no other solution,” it said. Five potential buyers came forward. In the end, the business court in Bergen approved New MT’s takeover bid on Tuesday, said King Jouet.
All in all, Maxi Toys had more than 200 stores in four countries. In addition to Belgium and France, it concerns Luxembourg and Switzerland. The entire group employed about 1,200 people.
Maxi Toys has gone through a turbulent period in recent years. The chain was part of the Dutch group Blokker Holding for many years, but that put a series of parts on the display in May 2017. This also includes Maxi Toys, which was eventually taken over by the Portuguese investment company Green Swan in January 2019.
Blokker part Intertoys also ended up with the Portuguese after a takeover by the British investor Alteri and a bankruptcy. In the meantime, the Blokker family in the Netherlands had sold the retail chain with its name to CEO Michiel Witteveen. Blokker Holding renamed it Mirage Retail Group and took over Maxi Toys and Intertoys from Green Swan again in September 2019.
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