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.
French chair and sofa maker Manufacture Francaise des Sieges has been placed under liquidation by the commercial court of Amiens. 352 employees will lose their jobs in August.
Managers have been granted a delay until August 11 to find a buyer. The majority of the workers are on strike and plan to continue the protest, threatening to block access to the plant if no acquisition offers are presented by 11 August 2009.
In 2007 the company was acquired by a group of managers, led by Jean-Claude Benedetti, with the support of local institutions. According to Benedetti, the crisis has prevented the success of the restructuring plans implemented by the company, which registered a drop of 34% in activity in the first months of 2009. Manufacture Francaise des Sieges now employs 352, against over 600 in 2006. The workers are aware that even if a buyer comes forward, a new restructuring plan will be necessary.
The company, based in Berteaucourt-les-Dames, northern France, was placed under receivership in April.
Eurofound (2009), Manufacture française de sièges, Bankruptcy in France, factsheet number 69352, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/69352.