Five takeover offers have been submitted for the ready-to-wear group Kaporal, a French clothing brand specializing in jeans, and will be examined on June 22 by the Marseille commercial court, we learned from concordant sources. . These offers can still be “improved” up to 48 hours before the exam, a representative of the current management said on Friday, without further comment.
The brand, whose head office is located in Marseille and which employs some 530 people and has 113 stores in France, had requested in March its placement in receivership to face “unprecedented economic difficulties”, preventing it ” to assume alone the payment of its debts”.
Nearly 100 million euros in turnover
“For many years, society has faced unpredictable and unstoppable external elements,” the group explained, citing the consequences of the “yellow vest” protests, the Covid-19 pandemic, “successive strikes” and of the “inflationary shock” notably due to the war in Ukraine.
Created in 2004 by a Marseilles family already specialized in jeans, Kaporal achieved 99 million euros in turnover in 2022. The Marseilles commercial court had opened a recovery procedure, giving until May 22 to d potential buyers to submit their offers. Five initial offers have been tabled, including two from former or current Kaporal officials.
The creator of Kaporal in the running
The creator of Kaporal, Laurent Emsellem, who led the company until 2013, proposed with a partner to take over 281 permanent employees and 70% of the stores. Two Kaporal executives, Thierry Bongiovanni and Nicolas Ciccione, have made an offer with the takeover of 393 permanent employees and the closure of at least 7 stores.
Two other offers come from companies in the sector. The “Golden Blue” company, also from Marseille and which operates the Le temps des cerfs brand, has offered to keep 113 permanent jobs and 18 shops. The company Guerrida, specializing in second-hand clothes, has submitted an offer with the takeover of 348 employees.
Finally, Noz, a chain of stores specializing in destocking, offered to take over only the stock, for 9.4 million. The ready-to-wear sector in France has been shaken for several months by a violent crisis, which resulted in particular in the liquidation of Camaïeu in September 2022 and the placement in receivership of Go Sport, Gap France and Kookaï at the start year 2023. On February 20, the San Marina shoemaker was placed in compulsory liquidation, dragging 650 employees down with it.