Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Colruyt a Belgian multinational retail chain has announced it will take over 57 of the stores of competing chain Match & Smatch (part of the Louis Delhaize Group). However, a consequence of this takeover is that 690 employees at Match & Smatch are at risk of losing their jobs.
The company management has announced that because of a lack of alternative solutions, they intend to initiate a collective dismissal procedure for employees in that situation.
The national competition authority still has to approve the merger for Colruyt in view of maintaining fair competition within the sector.
Updated 05/01/2024
Of the 27 Match & Smatch shops that have not been sold to Colruyt, 7 other stores will be taken over by a different retailer, while negotiations are still ongoing for the Match store in Beaumont.
The 19 remaining shops will close between mid-January and March. The 163 employees working in these shops and in the logistic services will lose their job but will benefit from the social plan signed on the 1st of December.
In June 2024 the company has applied for the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers (EGF). The application has been successful and €2.7 million have been granted by the EGF to support the workers.
Eurofound (2023), Match/Smatch, Merger/Acquisition in Belgium, factsheet number 200355, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/200355.
Eurofound’s ERM restructuring legislation database offers an overview of key restructuring-related regulations in the EU Member States and Norway. Its content is continuously updated to reflect any changes made by national legislators in response to, for instance, policy shifts, legal...
Can Europe still achieve its ambitions for battery manufacturing? To answer this, the article looks at data from Eurofound’s European Restructuring Monitor and explores what recent large-scale restructuring events reveal about the state of play in the EU battery sector.
This working paper offers a comprehensive methodological overview of the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) databases. Even though the methodology has not changed over time, new categories have been added, and the way it has been used by researchers and policymakers...
This Eurofound research paper explores key trends in restructuring in recent years, highlighting the companies that announced the largest job losses and job gains in the EU. It builds on an analysis of company announcements recorded in Eurofound’s European Restructuring...
In 2023, thousands of workers in big tech lost their jobs. Meta, Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft and Salesforce had been considered to offer good and secure jobs up to this point. Giants of the information and communication technology (ICT) sector,...
In 2024, the automotive sector in the EU came to the fore in public and policy discussions. The focus was on the slowdown in electric vehicle (EV) sales, rising global competition, belated investments in new technologies, and the potential closure...
