The group Sequana, owner of paper manufacturer Arjowiggins including the mills sarthoises has been liquidated and the other partially disposed of, announced on Wednesday have been placed in judicial liquidation by the tribunal de commerce of Nanterre.
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This decision “is the result of the inability of Sequana, the result of the judgment rendered by the court of appeal of London in the dispute opposing it to the group, BAT Industries, to present a recovery plan to clear the liabilities which it must take into account,” explained the group in a press release. A british court has sentenced Sequana in early February to pay to BAT a dividend challenged to 135 million euros.
The number of employees affected by the liquidation remains for the moment unknown
Sequana employed 7800 employees by the end of 2017, of which 2300 in its subsidiary Arjowiggins and 5200 within the branch Antalis, specialising in distribution of papers and industrial packaging, according to its website. No one was available at Sequana to specify the number of employees affected by the liquidation, Antalis has indicated his side continue to look for new shareholders to save his activity.
For its part, the Nanterre commercial court has already pronounced on the 29th of march the liquidation of the factory Arjowiggins Coated Papers to Bessé-sur-Braye, and the partial transfer of the factory of the Bourray, causing the layoff of some 800 employees. “Most of the companies of the group, Arjowiggins has been the subject of collective proceedings, Sequana is not able to cope with the commitments made in their favour or to finance any longer its operations and its costs of litigation”, has indicated the French group.
For his part, Antalis, which is listed on the Paris stock Exchange, must, in particular, face a decline in sales volumes and the difficulties of the mills from Arjowiggins, which is one of its suppliers of paper. The government had announced in April wanting to “shed light on the way in which it has been handled Sequana”, after the liquidation of a site of Arjowiggins, a subsidiary of the paper company, which employed 580 employees in the Sarthe.
