2023-05-11 12:27:28
GAP France was placed in receivership last March. Heorshe / stock.adobe.com
The company belonging to the London-listed group JD Sports was selected by the Grenoble commercial court to take over a majority of GAP France’s activity.
The Spodis company, belonging to the British JD Sports, was retained by the Grenoble commercial court to take over a large part of the activities of Gap France, owned by a subsidiary of the Ohayon group in the midst of a collapse, and save 214 jobs. “With realistic operating and financial forecasts, ability to support working capital and equity investments, Spodis safeguards 214 out of 336 jobs, with a commitment not to make any redundancies for two years“, announced Thursday the parquet floor of Grenoble in a press release. “The jobs taken over come from 19 stores, the head office and two +corners+, but only nine stores are taken over in full“, further indicated the prosecution, specifying that the court had “retained the proximity of the activities of Gap (retail trade and clothing) and JD Sports (retail trade of clothing) and respect for the continuation of activity“, while the offer was not unanimous among the employees, worried about seeing the Gap brand disappear in France.
This takeover for 300,000 euros, which includes the resumption of nearly two thirds of the jobs, does not, however, provide for the resumption of any employee of the headquarters and the brands of Aix-en-Provence and Montpellier. According to the Grenoble prosecutor’s office, “the recovery solution by Spodis gives the best guarantees of maintaining activity and employment“. The Lille company Spodis remained the only candidate in the running since Hema France and Shopinvest, which had initially submitted an offer, finally withdrew. The Intersport group had given up at the beginning of April. The court also ruled out the possibility of a recovery plan, in the absence of “written document supporting the projectrescue planned by the company Wilsam – owner of Gap France -, whose commercial court ordered the judicial liquidation, allowing the sale of the remaining stores to other buyers.
Employees relieved by this takeover
Subsidiary via Wilsam of the Hermione, Brands & People (HPB) holding company of the Bordeaux businessman Michel Ohayon’s group, the Gap France brand had been placed in receivership at the beginning of March, with at the time a liability of nearly of 6 million euros. This liability rose to more than 34 million on the day of the hearing on April 26. Gap France had been acquired in 2021 for a symbolic euro by Mr. Ohayon, whose group has been in turmoil for several months: after the liquidation of its Camaïeu brand (2,600 employees) in September, its head holding company, Financière immobilière bordelaise (FIB) has declared itself insolvent and 25 Galeries Lafayette stores have been placed in the safeguard procedure. And in April, the Grenoble court had appointed Intersport for the takeover of Go Sport – then in receivership – and the takeover of 72 stores corresponding to 90% of jobs, to the great relief of its employees who in turn feared liquidation.
As for Go Sports, the subsidiary holding Gap France was unable to present a recovery plan. Its limited scope recovery proposal (2 stores, the corners and the website) was rejected “in view of the very large amount of liabilitieswith the American parent company, Gap Inc., according to the judgment of the commercial court. In addition to its financial problems, the Oyahon galaxy is the subject of a legal investigation for “organized gang fraud, habitual money laundering, bankruptcy and abuse of corporate assets“, After “several revelations of criminal factsreported by Go Sport’s auditors.
Spodis, which operates the sporting goods brands JD Sports, Size and Footpatrol in France, “employs nearly 2,500 people» et «operates more than one hundred stores in France“. JD Sports, a group valued at some 10 billion euros, generates 30% of its turnover in the United Kingdom, 30% in the United States and 30% in Europe. It employs around 70,000 people.
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