Ahmed can breathe. This technician at Caddy was not, however, optimistic about the file for taking over his company, which the Ministry of the Economy still recently described as “fragile”. “I fear that we will all find ourselves unemployed and at my age I know that I will have difficulty finding work”, feared the one who has 26 years of seniority at the trolley manufacturer based in Dettwiller (Bas- Rhine) and placed in receivership.
This Tuesday morning, the commercial chamber of the Saverne court validated the plan to take over the Alsatian company carried by a consortium of 6 shareholders, including the current CEO, Stéphane Dedieu: “We will be able to keep 113 employees out of the current 140” . The takeover of the company will be effective on April 4 and it is the Valenciennes industrialist Pascal Cochez who will now manage Caddie SAS. He will take 66% of the shares of the new Caddy company against 34% shared between Stéphane Dedieu, an Italian distributor and German industrialist. The presence of the Northerner‚ who has made himself the specialist in rescuing companies in difficulty, seems to have convinced the court. “Last night again (Monday) the judicial administrators evoked a judicial liquidation. During the night, Mr. Cochez put an additional 320,000 euros on the table in addition to the 3.5 million already promised, ”says Luc Strohmenger, CFTC union representative.
5 million euros in guarantees requested to authorize the takeover
Added to this is a subsidized loan of 418,000 euros guaranteed by the State and repayable aid of 452,0000 euros provided by the Grand-Est region. In total, nearly 5 million euros that justice demanded as guarantees to authorize the recovery.
Since last January, the Bas-Rhin company founded in 1928 had been placed in receivership, the fourth time in 10 years, weighed down by debts to the tune of 4 million euros. While the company had been bought by the Polish group Damix in 2018, the latter explained that “the health crisis had only undermined sales of trolleys worldwide to large retail groups”.
“Caddy has become an aging business. We are obviously going to continue the core business and our know-how, namely the production of trolleys, but we must also diversify. We are now going to focus on fitting out stores and subcontracting activities,” confided Stéphane Dedieu. To this day, Caddy is still the only manufacturer of shopping carts in France. “Caddy’s salaries have suffered a lot over the past 10 years. They now need stability and prospects for the future. We bet that this 4th turnaround will be the last, ”hopes Luc Strohmenger.