Hell is paved with good intentions, they say. The maxim could apply, many experts believe, to a recent government decision. Believing that the forced closure for two months of many shops, due to the confinement linked to the Covid-19 epidemic, has more than weakened them, the government has decided, in cases where there is no fault of proven management, to help them, through an ordinance promulgated on May 20.
While in principle, a business manager does not have the right to buy his own company when it is at its worst (article L 642-3 of the Commercial Code), this ordinance on the contrary facilitates this "redemption by itself ”one might say. "The manager of a company can take over all or part of the assets of his company, but only on one condition: that there is maintenance of employment", specifies Me Christel Branjonneau, specialist in company law.
A provision used by Camaïeu or Alinéa
If this notion of "maintaining employment" seems vague, in fact, "the court will look at this criterion of employment, determining, before deciding and choosing such and such a buyer rather than another", continues Me Christel Branjonneau. , who especially expects this provision to be used from September. "For the moment, many SMEs are betting on partial unemployment schemes to keep up," said the lawyer.
But does not this ordinance risk being diverted from its primary purpose, to cushion the shock linked to Covid, on the part of bosses who were already experiencing serious difficulties before? "The question arises all the more since in the event of receivership, the candidates for the takeover only take over the business, but neither the company (Editor's note: which will be liquidated subsequently) , nor the debts (then declared irrecoverable, with a few creditors near) , underlines the specialist.
Recently, two companies facing structural difficulties, such as the fashion brand Camaïeu - positioned in the difficult mid-range niche, it is currently left behind by Primark or Kiabi - or the furniture brand Alinéa - in the throes of fierce competition from Ikea - have used this new arrangement, sometimes angering unions or employees.
"I understand all the more that they can be shocked that not only, the debt is thus erased, but that the social plan set up cannot be contested by the unions, since they are dealing with dismissals for economic reasons », Concludes Me Branjonneau. Camaïeu employees will know the name of their buyer on August 17, those of Alinéa around August 31.
