Legal, the end… The Legal coffee company, famous for its advertising slogan “Legal, taste”, announced its liquidation due to financial difficulties, specifying that it had not found a buyer with “sufficient guarantees”.
In 2022, the company, presented at the time as “the first independent French coffee producer brand with 100% French industrial facilities”, was bought by businessman Michel Ohayon. He sold it the following year to the FNB investment fund, specializing in agri-food SMEs, which had become the majority shareholder.
Cafés Legal declared themselves insolvent last September, and their receivership was declared a month later by the Paris commercial court. In this judgment dated October 8, the court reported 120 employees in the company. It also indicated that Legal had achieved an annual turnover (without specifying the year) of 44.8 million euros, but that its “liabilities” reached 49 million euros.
“The company is clearly unable to meet its due liabilities with its available assets, in particular due to a loss of competitiveness and excessive liabilities. A recovery plan is not possible given the importance of the liabilities but a sale plan would be, particularly taking into account current contacts and taking into account the notoriety of the brand and in order to preserve employment. the court wrote in October.
“Integral part of industrial heritage”
But in a press release dated Wednesday, Legal indicates that “despite strong activity by the company in recent months, in a difficult period marked by a historic rise in coffee prices, no recovery solution has been successful” and that “the court ruled that the only takeover offer submitted did not present sufficient guarantees to ensure [sa] sustainability”.
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