Time has stood still for the nearly 2,000 employees of the French sites owned by the British Gupta Family Group Alliance (GFG Alliance) and its companies, specializing in aluminum, Alvance, and steel, Liberty Steel. Now that Greensill, the group’s main financial partner, which provided it with a large part of its liquidity, filed for bankruptcy in the United Kingdom on Monday March 8, all wondering: will there be a domino effect and risks for employment in these steel and aluminum factories? Will they be swept away by the storm sweeping the group?
The 260 employees of the Ascoval steelworks in Saint-Saulve (North) were shaken by the news. In August 2020, at the end of an interminable industrial soap opera, the Strasbourg tribunal de grande instance validated the takeover of the steel site by Liberty Steel, at the same time as that of France Rail Industry, in Hayange (Moselle). “ It’s exhausting, deplores Nathalie Delabre, CFE-CGC delegate for the site. Our order book is full, we have visibility for several months but, again, we find ourselves living to the rhythm of emotional elevators. “
Tuesday March 9, on France 2, the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, tried to reassure them: “I fully understand that they have concerns (…) but, in all cases, the State will be behind these industrial sites (…) If there is a financial difficulty, [il] will be able to bridge the gap, find alternative solutions. ” Bercy specifies that Liberty’s investments in France have always been the subject of great vigilance, and that mechanisms have been specifically put in place to ensure that in the event of failure Liberty does not take the French sites into his fall.
In Ingrandes (Vienne), the management of the Alvance Aluminum Poitou foundry brought together 300 employees on the afternoon of March 9. “ She explained to us that now the group had to seek new funding. Because, until now, its main provider has been Greensill, explains Jean-Philippe Juin, CGT delegate for the foundry, acquired at the helm of the commercial court, in 2019. For sites that make money, it can hold up. But we lose more than a million euros per month. We could end up in suspension of payments from one week to the next. “
“It’s a secret group that tells us as little as possible”
The 300 employees of the Poitevin site are particularly worried. Indeed, it was Greensill Bank AG – a German bank whose suspicious practices led to the suspension by the German financial regulator and precipitated the bankruptcy of the British parent company – which granted their foundry a loan guaranteed by the ‘State (PGE) of 18 million euros, in December 2020.
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