The magazine VSD has come out of the judicial reorganization proceedings in which it has been placed since August 2019, its reorganization plan having been ratified, according to a decision of the Paris Commercial Court consulted on Friday by AFP.
To read also: The magazine VSD placed in receivership
"The provisional accounts drawn up for the continuation plan make it possible to envisage sufficient operating results to allow the reimbursement of all creditors,"
said the court.
The recovery plan, led by Georges Ghosn, former boss of France Soir, was validated for a period of 10 years.
"Creditors representing more than 87% of liabilities are in favor of the plan expressly or tacitly,"
says the decision.
"The accounts are reaching equilibrium this year, even a profit,"
Georges Ghosn told AFP.
The court notes the
“energetic recovery”
operated by the press boss, who bought the magazine in June 2018 from the Prisma Media group in a tense climate.
The manager
"implemented a reduction in overheads of 1.1 million euros"
obtained with
"the relocation of the operating premises",
the reduction of his own salary, the reduction of the pagination of the title and the dismissal economic of seven employees, specifies the authority.
The court also notes the creation of an additional liability amounting to 1.3 million euros, during the period of observation of the procedure, and
"multiple cash flow difficulties"
.
But several agreements and
"financial contributions" -
advances on receipts from Presstalis becomes France Messagerie, a subsidy from the Ministry of Culture, contributions from Philippe Ghanem and the magazine press editor Robert Lafont - have made it possible to avoid its loss. placement in compulsory liquidation.
No change of legal status
On the other hand, the court refused the change of legal status from VSD (currently a collective company) to a public limited company (SA), justifying its decision by the fact that such a transformation
"reduces the possible rights of creditors on the partners" .
He also notes that this transformation
"was not presented in the recovery plan submitted to the vote of the creditors"
.
This decision can block the entry of Robert Lafont, via his company Entreprendre, in the capital of the magazine up to 49.99%, pointed out Georges Ghosn.
"For the moment, Robert Lafont is a lender (in the amount of 300,000 euros, note) and he will
only
enter"
the capital if the company VSD is transformed into an SA, told AFP Georges Ghosn, s' relying on the terms of his agreement with Robert Lafont.
But
"we will find an arrangement and a reformulation of the agreements in good understanding"
, he added.
For its part, the Entreprendre group maintains that it
"will take 49.99% of VSD in accordance with the agreements"
made with Georges Ghosn,
"in the days to come"
.
And even if the VSD group remains in partnership, Robert Lafont told AFP on Friday.
“We believe a lot in VSD and we will develop the title well”
with Georges Ghosn, he declared.
