2024-03-22 03:29:16
Could this be the end of Bordeaux businessman Michel Ohayon’s descent into hell? After the liquidation of Camaïeu in September 2022, then the sale of Go Sport and Grande Récré, the continuation plan for the 26 Galeries Lafayette stores owned by Michel Ohayon in the provinces was validated this Thursday March 21 by the Bordeaux commercial court .
“The approximately one thousand employees concerned are very relieved,” rejoices Muriel Scanzi, the company’s central CFDT union representative. Located in Amiens, Bayonne, Caen, Cannes, Chambéry, La Rochelle, Lorient, Montauban, Rouen, Toulon or Tours, these department stores located in medium-sized towns had been bought by the billionaire with a tarnished reputation in 2018 or 2021, depending on the case. With, always, the same promise: to invest massively to relaunch these temples of consumption, worthy heirs of those described in “Ladies’ Happiness” by Émile Zola.
A commitment to invest 9 million euros
The ace ! The investments promised many times for these 26 Galeries Lafayette stores operated as franchises by Hermione People & Brands, Michel Ohayon’s company, have never materialized – as at Camaïeu or Go Sport for that matter – to such an extent that a safeguard procedure had to be launched in 2023.
A year later, the consular judges therefore decided to validate the continuation plan which had been revealed by Michel Ohayon at the last minute. If a few details may slightly impact the final version of the text, the general idea of this plan is that Hermione People & Brands undertakes to provide new money, to the tune of 9 million euros, including 3.5 million euros immediately, according to the employees’ lawyer, Stéphane Kadri. The plan, however, includes the closure of the Pau store (29 jobs).
Hermione People & Brands also revised its growth outlook downward, from 11% to 4%. Above all, in the home stretch, Michel Ohayon was able to put forward a decisive argument, his plan now being supported by the Galeries Lafayette group – main creditor of Hermione People & Brands – which indeed agreed to waive 70% of its debts.
If most experts refuse to speak officially on this sensitive issue, one of them deciphers the recent turnaround of the Galeries Lafayette group: “Even if the name of Ohayon, with all these cascading bankruptcies, is a repellent , it would have been extremely difficult to find buyers for these large boats that are the provincial stores. As a result, the closure of the 26 Galeries Lafayette concerned would have harmed the Galeries Lafayette brand. As for the purchasing center, which would have lost part of its activity, it would have found itself in difficulty. »
Ultimately, concerns remain
“In short, we continue as before, with the same promises as five years ago, hoping that this time they will be kept, and that the stores, lying fallow since 2018, will finally be properly maintained. And then, we also need to attract new attractive brands to our shelves,” lists Muriel Scanzi, who remains “worried about the medium term, as are the employees, frightened by the legal setbacks of Michel Ohayon.”
In fact, a key question remains: how to rotate and welcome enough customers in these temples of luxury, which offer renowned bags, perfumes and clothing, to finally make turnover take off? Because these behemoths, whose size ranges between 2,000 and 4,000 m2, are increasingly struggling to attract consumers, who are more inclined to frequent more accessible city center stores like Etam, Promod, Devred, Zara or H&M.
In 2018, however, Ohayon believed in it, and counted on these chic stores to revitalize city centers. In addition to his refusal to invest as he had committed to doing, he had to face some serious headwinds: Covid, but also the boom in e-commerce and fast fashion at low prices.
“In view of the bankruptcies of Camaïeu, Go Sport and Grande Récré, entrusting a case to Michel Ohayon remains a daring bet,” estimates our cautiously anonymous expert. If, at the beginning of March, the Bordeaux commercial court validated the recovery plan for the three luxury hotels owned by the businessman, his holding company, Financière Immobilière Bordelaise (FIB), is on the other hand in receivership until this summer. Above all, in Paris, the National Jurisdiction for the Fight against Organized Crime (Junalco) has been investigating suspicions of embezzlement committed against the brands Gap France, Camaïeu, Go Sport and the Campus Academy school for more than a year. As part of this possible “organized gang fraud” within his companies, the businessman was the subject of searches at the beginning of February.
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