The company selling decorative and furnishing objects at reduced prices has been put up for sale by its founder, Philippe Ginestet. If a few buyers currently seem interested in a possible buyout, the employees for their part regret a lack of transparency on the part of their management.
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The yellow and red company could well change hands. Gifi, a brand specializing in the sale of decorative objects and home equipment at low prices, was offered for sale by its founder, Philippe Ginestet. “The sale mechanism has been initiated to ensure the sustainability of the group”indicated Maître Christophe Dejean, the lawyer for the company and its founder, this Friday, November 15.
“At 70 years old and after forty-five years at the head of the group, Philippe Ginestet's absolute priority is to hand over the reins in the best possible conditions to develop this unique brand. and has everything to become number one in your sector”declared lawyer Christophe Dejean at the‘AFP.
For the company's many employees, this official announcement breaks with several months of uncertainty regarding the group's financial situation. “Management doesn’t inform us of anythingregrets an internal source, contacted by telephone. Nothing is said officially during the meetings held at the company's Social and Economic Committee (CSE).
However, according to this same anonymous source, warning signs suggested this outcome. “Some suppliers were no longer paidshe confides. Savings were made on payroll and some employees anticipated this by leaving the company on their own.”continues the internal source, specifying that certain salaries were also deferred.
The former discount king is now on the market for sale, only a few months after a request for a rescheduling of its debt from its creditors at the start of the year. Last May, several banks granted a loan of 100 million euros to GPG, the holding company of the Ginestet family, the daily reported. The Worldunder the gaze of interministerial committee for industrial restructuring (CIRI).
Today, several candidates have positioned themselves on the takeover of the company, although the offers have not yet been made. Still according to the newspaper The Worldthe names of Carrefour or the Tunisian group Zouari, notably owner of Stokomani and Maxi Bazar, direct competitors of Gifi, would potentially be interested. If a sale were to be concluded, it would only concern the commercial brand and not the company's real estate.
This sudden announcement could well have significant salary repercussions. For good reason, the company employs more than 6,500 employees nationally. Of these, half of the employees work in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, where Gifi's head office is located, in the town of Villeneuve-sur-Lot, in Lot-et-Garonne.
Here, in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, more than 700 people still work for the discount giant. Mayor Gérard Régnier did not wish to speak, for the moment, about the possible repercussions on the scale of the city which still lived, a few years ago, to the rhythm of the Bazar brand.
