The court decided, this Monday, May 26th, to initiate a judicial recovery procedure for the Nice-Matin group (611 employees), as well as for its distribution company Publinice-Services (346 employees).
Furthermore, a judicial safeguard procedure has been launched for its advertising management company Eurosud Cรดte-d’Azur (176 employees). An observation period has been opened for six months.
A social plan negotiated over months provides for approximately 147 job cuts and 2 million in savings.
“The immediate initiation of the procedure ultimately proved preferable to the solution considered last Friday of an advance in funds from the shareholder,” stated the management of the Nice-Matin group. According to a source close to the case, these two million were not on the table, however, this Monday when the court made its decision.
The recovery procedure “can also allow other investors to come forward and propose alternative solutions,” it stipulates. “The different alternative solutions will be examined by the end of June 2014” by the two judicial administrators appointed by the court.
The Swiss investment fund GXP Capital remains in the running to take over the group, even though it has not yet put the announced 20 million euros on the table since February.
The Nice-Matin group has been posting losses for three years, due to the combined decline in single-copy sales and advertising revenue.
