Camaïeu, insolvent, placed under receivership
Two years after its takeover by Financière immobilière bordelaise (FIB), the ready-to-wear giant Camaïeu was officially launched on Monday, 1 January 2018ah August in receivership of the Commercial Court of Lille, announced its management to the Agence France-Presse (AFP). “We take note of the decision of the court, which announces the opening of bankruptcy proceedings at Camaïeu’s request.”said management, claiming to be working “from now on in the continuation plan”the aim of the brand, which employs 2,571 people, “preserving the activity of the company and the Camaïeu brand”.
“This decision should allow Camaïeu, a historic brand of French textiles, to have an observation phase and then present a continuation plan to continue the transformation initiated by the group, thus ensuring the sustainability of the company.”explains in a press release the Hermione People and Brands (HPB) group, the sales department of the FIB of Bordeaux businessman Michel Ohayon.
Weakened by the health crisis and the war in Ukraine
The brand, which has 538 stores in France, had requested the opening of this procedure last Monday, declaring that it would stop paying, burdened in particular by unpaid rents. This request has been made “after a period of several months marked by a series of exogenous difficulties”developed HPB. “Already very fragile by the time of his recovery”in 2020, “Camaïeu faced a wave of successive large and unprecedented crises due to the Covid crisis and repeated confinement (…) and the disruption of global transportation”it says in the press release.
HPB also cites a “Cyber attack of exceptional magnitude and the consequences of the war in Ukraine and the increase in the price of raw materials”. “Camaïeu, already largely weakened by this succession of unprecedented facts, has had to face the judgment of the Court of Cassation since June 30, which denies merchants the right to request a reduction in their rents for the Covid period.”adds HPB.
“Even if the court validates a continuity plan, we know very well that there will be a reorganization of the workforce, i.e. a social plan, i.e. social damage”responded Thierry Siwik, CGT delegate from Camaïeu. “In order to minimize this social damage, we will set up an action with the CGT HPB”he added.
