Duralex, the hard law of the market

In La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin (Loiret), the fate of Duralex, placed in receivership in September, leaves no one indifferent.

“Here, everyone knows someone who worked there, a grandfather, an uncle, a neighbor…”, says Frédéric Morin-Payé, sales and marketing director of this company whose famous glasses - the Gigogne and the Picardy in particular - are still the stars of canteen lunches.

Established in this town of 10,000 inhabitants in the suburbs of Orleans for more than 75 years, the glass factory has long been one of the region's jewels, especially in the 1970s under the direction of Saint-Gobain, when more than 'a thousand workers kept this blazing-fire factory running.

Today, even if it only employs 248 people, "the link remains strong, it is part of our heritage, local, but also national", underlines the mayor of the town, Valérie Barthe Cheneau, attached, like her administered to this “French know-how” famous throughout the world for its reputed unbreakable tempered glass tableware.

Pyrex is the offer deemed the most "reassuring"

If they say they are "attentive" to the situation, the few inhabitants of the Chapel crossed Tuesday in front of a bakery, however, are confident.

It must be said that they are now used to the upheavals of this company which has already experienced a bankruptcy in 2004, a judicial liquidation in 2008 and therefore a receivership today.

While the takeover offers must be studied this Friday by the Orleans commercial court, some even believe they already know who will be the future buyer: "It's Pyrex, you will see", says René, a former official, just retired, looking forward to the idea.

The Duralex factory now employs only 248 people.

Takeover offers must be studied this Friday by the Orléans commercial court. / LP / Arnaud Journois  

Controlled by the European investment fund Kartesia, the parent company of Pyrex, "International Cookware Holding" whose turnover is 100 million euros (compared to around 20 million euros for Duralex) is in fact the 'one of the three candidates for the takeover.

This company, based in Châteauroux (Indre), an hour and a half away, plans in particular to inject 12 million euros there this year, not far from 20 million more by 2024 (some evoke the figure of 17 million), while retaining all employees.

The current directors of Duralex, André and Antoine Ioannides, have also positioned themselves on the file as allowed by a government order dating from May 2020. But, even if they planned to keep all the jobs, they would only bring "too much few financial guarantees ”, assures Pascal Colichet, the CGT delegate who also sweeps away the third offer, not very detailed but“ which would take only a few employees.

"

“Pyrex's offer is the best,” he says.

It is also considered "reassuring" by the mayor of the city.

It has been two years now that this specialist in "borosilicate pressed glass", a century-old brand in which Saint-Gobain was also a shareholder, has been eyeing Duralex.

Pyrex had even formulated a takeover offer last June which was finally refused by Antoine Ioannides who, in his search for a buyer while debts were accumulating, had preferred to discuss with another group of four investors including the industrialist Pierre Riou, founder of the company Riou Glass.

Company claims to have bought Duralex in August

And this is where the story gets complicated - or becomes funny depending on - because this same group which has since become the “Compagnie française du verre” now claims… the paternity of Duralex.

“We signed a sales agreement on August 18, which we confirmed a month later after lifting all suspensive clauses.

Which makes us the owners.

Except that a few days later (September 24), Mr. Ioannides placed the company in receivership without warning us, ”says Alexandre Almajeanu, one of the investors, contacted by us.

The Company, which has worked on a "continuation plan" now intends to "plead" its case at a hearing before the commercial court of Orleans scheduled for Thursday January 21, the day before the study of takeover bids by this same instance!

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If the elected CGT claims to have had no official communication about this change of shareholders "as required by law in such a situation", this imbroglio only adds to the long list of difficulties encountered by Duralex in recent years under the reign of Antoine Ioannides, its CEO, at the helm since 2008.

Duralex's unbreakable tableware./LP/Arnaud Journois  

Part of its misfortunes comes from this "industrial accident" which shook the company in 2017. While the company has just invested 8 million euros in a new furnace, a problem with an ancillary part, the "scraper" , prevents the plant from operating at full capacity for several months.

“This penalized us heavily, causing cash flow problems,” also confirms Frédéric Morin-Payé, the sales and marketing director.

Strategic mistakes and a lack of investment

But according to other wise observers of the matter, “the scraper has a good back.

The situation was already very fragile at that time.

"Pascal Colichet, the union delegate opines and thus points to" the strategic errors of the management team ", in particular" an insufficient sales network "and the" loss of important markets ":" In ten years, even if the number of business doubled, the company was profitable only twice and mostly accumulated debt.

It's more than 40 million euros today, ”he assures us.

Result: the investments necessary to modernize the production tool were sorely lacking: “The factory?

It almost feels like a Zola novel, ”jokes someone familiar with the matter.

The health crisis, with much smaller export opportunities (which represents 80% of the company's sales) has only driven the point home.

1986, a difficult year in which Saint-Gobain "sent 400 employees away almost overnight" from Duralex./LP/Arnaud Journois  

The situation is such that in the end, the prospect of the arrival of a new buyer - and therefore new money - is almost seen as a relief for some of the employees.

"I see this takeover as a renewal", smiles Nicolas, product manager in the marketing department, whose father and grandfather have spent their entire career at Duralex.

Manuel de Carvalho, quality manager who started in the factory with “a broom and a shovel” at the age of 19, also says he is “serene”: “I have experienced things here in nearly 40 years. ", He sighs, recounting in particular this" difficult "year 1986 when Saint-Gobain" had made leave, almost overnight, 400 employees ".

But despite all the changes in ownership - this will be his sixth - he has never lost hope, as this company seems like its dishes, unbreakable: “Our know-how is unique.

And that nobody can make it disappear.

"