Finally a little air for Fonderies du Poitou Alu. The Paris Commercial Court extended the deadline until January 10, 2022 to allow automobile subcontractors in great difficulty in Vienne to find a buyer. The subcontractor, in receivership since April, had until October 20 to find a buyer, but for lack of candidates, the court set a new schedule on Tuesday, while the manufacturer Renault is currently providing financing until until December 31st.
Deadline for submission of tenders: January 10, 2022
“The court ruled for an extension of the observation period until April 23 with a deadline for the submission of takeover bids set for January 10, 2022”, confirms to France Bleu Poitou the CGT union delegate and representative of the inter-union CGT / CFE-CGC Jean-Philippe Juin. “It’s not a victory because we lost six months but we are still combative. We will be reassured when we are presented with a buyer”, he comments.
According to the representative of the intersyndicale, the court appointed the consulting firm Roland Berger to conduct “a search for a buyer”, by targeting the non-EU zone, in particular the American continent, China and India. This firm estimates that the site of some 320 employees based in Ingrandes-sur-Vienne, north of Châtellerault (Vienne), has “a capacity for reversal” if it switches from the manufacture of aluminum cylinder heads for combustion cars to parts for electric and hybrid vehicles, according to the CGT.
It’s not a victory because we lost six months, but we are still fighting. We will be reassured when we are presented with a buyer.
“But for that, we need to find a credible buyer to set up this diversification plan”, emphasizes Jean-Philippe Juin. As the funds are empty, funds will have to be found to finance the additional months of the observation period., while the manufacturer Renault, the plant’s sole customer, is financing it for the time being until December 31, 2021. “The urgency is to have candidates.”
A subsidiary of the Alvance group of the Indo-British Sanjeev Gupta, the automotive supplier has been in difficulty for several years. The adjoining Fonderies du Poitou Fonte plant, which produced diesel housings for Renault mainly intended for commercial vehicles, closed its doors this summer.