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.
Iconic Dublin department store, Clerys, was put into provisional liquidation on June 12 2015 with the direct loss of 130 jobs. Gordon Brothers Europe - the European branch of a US-based investment firm - had taken over the store in 2012 when it went into receivership, burdened by debts from ill-fated property investments.
Just prior to the announced closure, Gordon Brothers Europe disposed of their interest in the store (comprising two limited companies: OCS Operations and OCS Properties) to a newly formed consortium called Natrium. The new owners then sold the OCS Operations wing to a liquidation specialist in the UK who immediately petitioned to the have the company wound up. The High Court appointed provisional liquidators to OCS Operations, which resulted in the store shutting down at close of business on June 12.
The move has been widely criticised for the manner in which 130 Clerys staff have lost their jobs without notice. The jobs of some 330 staff of concession operators who were based in Clerys are also under threat. As the store's application for liquidation has been Court-approved, consultation obligations under the Protection of Employment Act 1977 do not apply. The 130 staff affected will be entitled to statutory redundancy, which is two weeks' pay per year of service (plus one week's pay) capped at €600 per week. If there is insufficient money to meet these payments from the credit in the company, the State will have to pay the redundancy to affected staff. The Government has since suggested that a revision of Company Law may be looked at to prevent a recurrence of what happened at Clerys.
Eurofound (2015), Clerys, Closure in Ireland, factsheet number 83729, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/83729.
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