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February 29, 2008 |
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SMOBY-MAJORETTE SA: Court to Select New Buyer on March 3 The Commercial Court of Lons-le-Saunier will rule March 3, 2008, on the buyer for Smoby-Majorette S.A., various reports say. Leading bidders for Smoby are the consortium of Abcia S.A. and Caravelle, and German toy-maker Simba, Le Monde reports. Meanwhile, around 500 employees staged a demonstration at several of the Smoby's plants, asking for reduction of job cuts from 600 to 250, Les Echos reports. Abcia and Simba both offered to keep around between 44% to 47% of the comany's employees. MGA Entertainment, which bought 51% of Smoby in May 2007, said it failed to reach an agreement with Smoby's creditors, Thomson Merger News relates. MGA didn't make an offer for Smoby. As reported in the TCR-Europe on Jan. 8, 2008, the Court of Appeal in Besancon rejected the recovery plan presented by MGA Entertainment Inc. for Smoby-Majorette, maintaining the decision of the Commercial Court of Lons-le-Saunier to place the company under receivership on Oct. 9, 2007. The appellate court gave interested parties until at latest Jan. 20, 2008, to submit offers for Smoby. Around 30 parties have sought information on Smoby and its units. About Smoby Headquartered in Lavans les Saint-Claude, France, Smoby -- http://www.smoby.fr/ -- specializes in the creation, development, production and distribution of toys for children from birth to age 10. Smoby has a presence in over 90 countries globally, with commercial and/or industrial operations in South America, Asia and throughout Europe. The Company's products are sold worldwide through a network of 18 subsidiaries, with 65% of sales generated outside of France. In France, the Company employs 1, 300 workers. Its Latin America operations are found in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. The Commercial Court of Lons-le-Saunier opened bankruptcy proceedings against Smoby on March 19, 2007, upon the Debtor's request. Smoby was hoping to snag an investor who will inject fresh capital yet remain a minority, as the company grapples with a EUR330-million debt. The company reported a net loss of EUR15.87 million for the year ended March 31, 2006, compared with a net profit of EUR1.56 million in 2005. |
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