The commercial court of Marseille, which was to give the name of the buyer of the SNCM this Wednesday, June 10, has rejected the 3 offers of takeover. It has asked the receivers to proceed with a new call for tenders. A new hearing will take place on September 25, after the summer, to examine the new takeover offers for the shipping company.
During the hearing of May 27, the Commercial Court of Marseille had studied the 3 takeover offers. These included that of Daniel Berebbi, director of Baja Ferries, that of Christian Garin, former director of the port of Marseille, and that of the Corsican group, Rocca. The public prosecutor of Marseille, Brice Robin, had decided to accept the offer of Baja Ferries, without rejecting that of the Corsican group Rocca, but refusing that of Christian Garin. The official receiver had retained the offer of Rocca.
Two bids submitted at the last minute
The 1 er in June, the court received a letter from STEF, a European refrigerated transport specialist, requesting a postponement of the decision until the end of September. STEF is also the owner of Méridionale, a company providing maritime services to Corsica, along with SNCM. The offer it is proposing is quite similar to the others since it proposes to keep 800 employees and 6 ships, investing 15 to 20 million euros.
The other bid was submitted by a consortium of eight Corsican companies (Europcar Corse, Gedimat, Brasserie Pietraâeuros¦) which represents 60% of Corsican maritime traffic and has a turnover of over one billion euros. The consortium has also requested the postponement of the decision.
Transdev, the main shareholder of SNCM, with 66% of the capital, has issued a press release, expressing its surprise at the refusal of the bids submitted which were viable and the late submission of two additional bids.
"The Commercial Court of Marseille has decided today to postpone its decision on the takeover of SNCM's assets. Transdev takes note of this decision which unfortunately postpones once again the deadlines that SNCM will inevitably have to face when the time comes.
Transdev is surprised that new takeover bids have been made a few days before the Commercial Court is due to deliberate on the sale plan, even though they could have been made within the framework of the call for applications organised by the court-appointed administrators since last December. Transdev can only hope that these last-minute steps were initiated in a spirit of seriousness and sincerity, and do not constitute delaying tactics intended to prevent the implementation of a permanent solution at all costs.
Indeed, following the work carried out over several months, jointly by SNCM's management, shareholders and court-appointed administrators, all the conditions were met for the commercial court to be able to decide on a disposal plan: confirmed offers, viable industrial projects, a negotiated and financed job protection plan, the agreement of the Corsican Regional Authority and a green light from the European Commission. Given the position expressed by the latter on June 9, it appears that at least some of these conditions may no longer be met in the autumn, which would then prevent any takeover and lead to a total liquidation of the company.
In the context of the extension of the observation period, it is up to the receivers to decide on the consequences to be drawn from the decision of the commercial court and to obtain new firm and binding offers.
For its part, Transdev will continue to do its utmost to find a solution that preserves the maximum number of activities and jobs. Transdev nevertheless reiterates that, whatever solution is ultimately chosen, and in accordance with what it has already indicated on numerous occasions, it will not make any additional contribution to the financing of SNCM and will not go beyond the commitments it has made to date with regard to the waiver of its debts and the financing of the social restructuring
