The business continuation plan for the 26 Galeries Lafayette stores owned by Michel Ohayon received the support of its main creditor, just before its final examination at the Bordeaux commercial court, AFP learned this Wednesday from consistent sources.
The Bordeaux commercial court will deliver its decision under advisement on March 20, said a participant.
The Galeries Lafayette group, from which the Bordeaux businessman had purchased these brands in 2018 and 2021, “accepted the safeguard plan proposed by Mr. Ohayon, which was modified,” declared to the press before the hearing at behind closed doors Maître Stéphane Kadri, lawyer for the central social and economic committee (CSEC) of Hermione Retail, which oversees most of the 26 stores.
“Galeries Lafayette abandons 70% of its receivables, accepts that the remaining 30% be paid within 10 years, to review the commission rate in two years and at the same time, last night, the forecast of a growth rate of 11% has was reduced to 4%.
We said that 11% was unrealistic,” added the lawyer, according to whom all creditors and agents now support the plan.
Also read Galeries Lafayette, Gap France, Grande Récré... what future for Michel Ohayon's brands?
Galeries Lafayette, contacted by AFP, did not wish to comment, but according to a source close to the group, they have in fact decided to support the project presented by Michel Ohayon who owes them tens of millions of euros .
“Give back momentum”
“In the latest version of the plan, he made concessions which will make it possible to give impetus to the operation of the stores and the group takes note of this,” observed this source to AFP.
Les Galeries, also the main supplier of the 26 stores which employ a thousand employees, nevertheless remains “lucid about the fragility of the situation of these stores but wishes to give Hermione Retail a chance”, she still believes.
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Permanent closure of Camaïeu in France: “We are in mourning”, confides an employee
Michel Ohayon has bought numerous textile brands in recent years, including Camaïeu, liquidated in September 2022. The businessman, in the grip of major financial difficulties, then had to sell Go Sport and Gap France.
Galeries Lafayette directly operates 19 stores in France, including the historic one on Boulevard Haussmann in Paris;
In addition to Michel Ohayon's 26, 13 others are operated by the Société des Grands Magasins or local entrepreneurs.