Last Monday, the administrators of the Corsican shipping company mentioned having received " five takeover offers and two letters of intent" . However, the trade unions, like the company's management, consider that only four takeover bids are serious. The other three, submitted by Swiss, Italian and French businessmen, are not considered credible.
Among the four potential buyers are Daniel Berebbi, president of Baja Ferries, who has been in position since the beginning, Christian Garin, former head of the port of Marseille and the Corsican carrier Patrick Rocca. There are no surprises here, as the three men had already publicly announced their intention to take over SNCM.
The fourth application was submitted by the Greek ferry company Attica, which has submitted a letter of intent to signal its interest but its project has yet to be fleshed out.
The company's management said in a statement Wednesday "This is good news: there is interest in SNCM's activities and serious offers are now in the hands of the court-appointed administrators to lead the discussions."
Daniel Berebbi's offer
The boss of Baja Ferries, a Mexican ferry company, is proposing to keep 750 to 800 employees out of the 1,400 permanent jobs the company currently has. He wants to split the activity in two and charter ships for the Maghreb. It would keep five ships in the fleet and would very quickly launch an order for a ship with conventional propulsion.
In terms of Corsica, there is a question of taking over the connections from Marseille, but it will separate itself from the lines from Nice and Toulon, which are loss-making.
It provides 100 million euros in 3 years, 80 of which come from bank loans and wants to review the agreements on working hours, which had been renegotiated in 2013.
Christian Garrin's offer
The former head of the port of Marseille proposes to keep the jobs of 900 employees. He would also like to divide the activity in two and make two separate companies. One part of the fleet would serve Corsica and the other the Maghreb. He also plans to renew the fleet and have 4 ships built by Daewoo. He would invest about 100 million euros according to his confidences to Le Marin.
Patrick Rocca's offer
The company, which had submitted a letter of intent, has stepped up its offer by submitting a takeover file. He proposes to keep 700 jobs and to renew the fleet to allow the company to develop. It also wants to create an activity to the Maghreb. The Toulon and Nice routes would also be abandoned.
Attica's offer
The Greek ferry company is offering to take over about 700 employees, but its offer has yet to be specified.
