ComediHa! will be able to get their hands on Just for Laughs. The Superior Court of Quebec just approved on Monday the purchase of the group, which was sheltered from its creditors in March.
However, it is a very light version of the producer of humorous content that survives. ComediHa!, of which Quebecor is a minority shareholder, intends to retain only “five to ten” of the hundred employees that Just for Laughs had before the start of insolvency procedures.
The company has already “temporarily” laid off three quarters of its employees. Just for Laughs kept 21 employees, but the new owner wants to fire the majority of them after the transaction, explained yesterday the trustee Christian Bourque of the firm PwC, responsible for procedures under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (LACC).
The amount of the transaction was not revealed in court, but according to our information, it reached approximately $25 million. The sale is expected to close in the coming days.
It does not include the Just for Laughs head office, on Saint-Laurent Boulevard, estimated at 5 million by the City of Montreal. Its marketing was entrusted to the real estate brokerage firm Colliers.
The trustee also obtained the extension of the insolvency procedures until the end of August, time to finalize this transaction.
Big catalog
In essence, Just for Laughs’ assets mainly include “thousands and thousands of contracts” to exploit content, the group’s president, Alain Bédard, explained in court. ComediHa! gets its hands on all of the company’s activities, including the Montreal festival, which welcomed 1.1 million visitors last year.
Also included are the Just For Laughs festival in Toronto and the small Zoofest festival, but above all the show The gagsbroadcast in around fifty countries.
Before winning the bid to buy Just for Laughs under the CCAA, ComediHa! had already resumed the production of content such as the musical Waitress and the show by comedian Jean-Sébastien Girard.
The company, which was Just for Laughs’ main competitor in the comedy market, organizes a festival every year in Quebec.
Ex-employee’s request rejected
A former Just for Laughs employee, who claims that former boss Gilbert Rozon had promised him a job for life, tried to change the procedures at the last minute, but the judge rejected his attempt.
The ex-employee, André Gloutnay, had himself precipitated insolvency by obtaining a judgment for more than $850,000 against Just for Laughs. He tried to convince the court that approving the sale to ComediHa! would prevent him from getting his money or getting his job back. The court instead decided to treat him as an ordinary creditor.
The judge also emphasized that the trustee will be able to pay sums to unsecured creditors like him at the end of the procedures.
After its sale for 65 million in 2019, Just for Laughs fired André Gloutnay, despite the agreement he had with the founder. The ex-employee then initiated procedures to get paid, then won his case last February, reported The Press in March.
“It was an accelerator,” said trustee Christian Bourque. There was a need to protect the company from creditors. »