The famous Duralex glassworks is saved: the Orléans commercial court validated Thursday the takeover offer of the only candidate still in the running, the ambitious parent company of Pyrex, International Cookware.
Employees can finally breathe.
Forty sympathizers and glass factory employees applauded the news on the steps of the Orléans courthouse.
Read also: Will the Duralex brand, known for its canteen glasses, disappear?
The Pyrex project plans to take over almost all of the 248 employees, with the exception of two senior executives.
This recovery without social damage thus puts an end to several months of anguish since the plant was placed in receivership in September 2020. “
It is a recovery plan that holds water.
There was a need for a group with solid finances.
The main thing is that jobs are safeguarded
”, reacted Pascal Colichet, CGT secretary of the CSE of Duralex.
The latest version of Pyrex's offer therefore convinced employees and judges to entrust it with the keys to the glassworks based in La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin (Loiret), in the suburbs of Orleans.
Initially a little too weak financially for the taste of the court, it had been reorganized at the beginning of the week.
Pyrex maintained its proposal of 3.55 million euros, concentrating its project, excluding in particular the takeover of a contract with Axa worth one million euros.
The announcement marks the end of a long ordeal for employees, because despite its notoriety, glassmaking has been suffering a string of setbacks for twenty years.
Duralex has already experienced bankruptcy in 2005 and bankruptcy in 2008, before being taken over at the last minute by its previous managers, Antoine and André Ioannidès.
In 2017, the problems worsened due to an incident during the replacement of the furnace and the situation deteriorated further last year with the health crisis, until a placement in receivership in September 2020.
This is the paradox of Duralex: its creations, Picardie and Gigogne in the lead, delight school canteens and visitors to the MoMA design boutique in New York, but the company suffers from a dilapidated industrial tool and an ill-suited trade policy.
Read also: Duralex: Pyrex favorite for the takeover, despite an offer deemed insufficient
This is why the International Cookware offer received the approval of the judges of the commercial court.
They had also mentioned a project of "
high quality
" during the hearing on January 22.
The group, based in Châteauroux, has indeed presented an ambitious industrial and commercial development program to revitalize the brand, the symbol of “
Made in France
”.
The glassmaker, owned by the Kartesia investment fund, notably plans to invest "
up to 17.4 million euros over the period 2021 to 2024
" and to provide 21 million in equity over the same period, including 12 million. million as of this year, according to the court ruling.
International Cookware intends to "
sell more
" by putting "
at the service of Duralex its 101 distributors and its sales team
".
The glassmaker also wants to "
sell better
" thanks to innovations and new communication, relying on online sales.
Finally, the group has the ambition to "
produce better
", "
thanks to investments in the production tool
" and "
synergies in purchasing, logistics and transport
".