Duralex: three takeover bids filed to save the glassworks
Three takeover bids have been submitted to revive the Duralex glassworks, which was placed in receivership on April 24 by the Orléans commercial court, we learned on Tuesday July 2 from sources close to the case.
>> Duralex taken over by Pyrex’s parent company, International Cookware
>> Energy prices: the State grants a loan of 15 million euros to Duralex
| The Duralex logo at the bottom of a glass, at the La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin glassworks (Loiret). |
| Photo d’archives : AFP/VNA/CVN |
The best of these offers is the proposal from the Société coopérative de production (Scop), supported by 60% of the staff and supported by the management of the site which employs 228 employees in La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin (Loiret), a town in the Orléans metropolitan area.
This offer provides for the retention of the entire workforce and has obtained the support of local elected officials. The Orléans metropolis has offered to buy the glassworks site, for a sum estimated at between five and eight million euros, in order to help convince the banks to finance the project.
The Centre-Val de Loire region has also promised its support in the form of a bank guarantee. The second offer is that of Sarl Tourres et Cie, owned by Stéphanie and Adrien Tourres.
They own two glassworks, Waltersperger (Seine-Maritime), taken over in 2018 and specializing in luxury bottling for cosmetics with around forty employees, and La Rochère (Haute-Saône) which has around a hundred jobs and works in particular for tableware.
Their plan provides for retaining 179 employees and envisages the establishment of technical and commercial synergies within the group. The CFDT believes that even if this offer does not preserve all the jobs, it must nevertheless be “taken seriously and studied.”
The third offer comes from Carlesimo Investissements/GCB Investissements, a family-owned industrial group that owns two foundries, Navylest International, which specializes in lead keels for boats, and Lory International. It only proposes the takeover of 79 jobs.
According to the CFDT, a fourth potential buyer had come forward, but ultimately decided not to submit an offer after speaking with elected members of the Social and Economic Committee (CSE).
These proposals will be examined by the Orléans commercial court during a hearing on July 17. Duralex, renowned worldwide for its ultra-resistant canteen glasses, has been experiencing recurring difficulties for more than twenty years.
The glassworks is currently in the hands of Compagnie Française du Verre, also the owner of Pyrex, which took it over at the bar of the same court in 2021.
AFP/VNA/CVN
