Les Filles was a household name in the center, a place where you could have a nice lunch or an extensive brunch on the weekend in a homely setting. The business has been closed for a month.
“The brunch was still doing well, but the other services were very irregular,” says Catherine Kirszbaum, who until recently was director of Les Filles. Kirszbaum is the wife of André Van Hecke. Together they manage the Les Filles Plaisirs Culinaires group, including another branch in Uccle, the BELvue museum and the operation of the canteen in the European Parliament. The panoramic restaurant in Brucity is also co-managed by them.
“We suffered from the attacks, the construction of the pedestrian zone, Covid…,” explains Van Hecke. “We have lost many regular customers who could not find their way back. This branch was therefore heavily loss-making.”
750.000 euro
The other branches of Les Filles Plaisirs Culinaires also had a hard time during corona. That is why the government agency Finance & Invest Brussels (FIB) lent them 750,000 euros.
But after Covid, the company found it difficult to recover. Of the 750,000 euros, it could only repay 50,000 euros.
Les Filles Plaisirs Culinaires decided to enter into a Judicial Reorganization Procedure (PGR). This is an arrangement that puts the continuation of the business and the retention of the staff first. The highest bidder can then take over the company debt-free before it goes bankrupt.
LFCooking was the highest bidder, and now owns the three branches of Les Filles Plaisirs Culinaires.
Vest pocket-trouser pocket
But: the managing director at LFCooking is the same André Van Hecke. He can now continue exactly the same activities without debt.
An ‘autocession’ or transfer to oneself, thought Finance & Invest Brussels, which saw 700,000 euros worthless.
The Brussels government institution objected to the company court. But that court ruled in favor of Van Hecke at the end of December, the main reason being that Van Hecke is the manager of LFCooking, but not a shareholder. Legally speaking, he did not sell to himself.
“According to Finance & Invest Brussels, you do not have to be a shareholder to have influence, but the court did not follow that argument. And rightly so,” says Van Hecke. “We bought our company under correct conditions. And besides, someone could just as easily have bid higher.”
Legal
Olivier Lemahieu, a corporate law lawyer but not involved in this file, confirms that such an arrangement is legal. “The legislature has just devised this judicial reorganization procedure so that companies can be transferred more easily.”
“The alternative is to let the company go bankrupt and that has a much higher cost,” he says. “Think of the staff who are on the street, the business that disappears, etc. If someone uses that procedure, he is not doing anything illegal. Although there is a debate about how flexible the conditions for takeover should be.”
Bru58
But according to FIB, there are still things that are not kosher. In L’Echo, FIB’s lawyer stated that Les Filles had already sold part of its assets before the judicial reorganization: the share in BRU58, the restaurant in Brucity, and the operation of the canteen of the European Parliament. As a result, the acquisition price was barely 10,000 euros.
Yet the judge did not follow this either.
Finance & Invest has not appealed the ruling. At BRUZZ they do not want to comment on the incident.
Second time
This is not the first time that Van Hecke has bought his own company through a judicial reorganization. Van Hecke and Kirszbaum also have a catering service, which supplies all Les Filles restaurants from a central kitchen in Uccle. It was first called Les Filles Cuisinent.
But that company also encountered difficult waters, despite a loan of 200,000 euros from FIB.
That company was also subsequently transferred to LFCooking through a judicial reorganization procedure, with Van Hecke as director. By the way, LF stands for Les Filles. So here again Van Hecke has sold to himself.
FIB has not received a cent of the 200,000 euros borrowed.
2024-01-25 16:41:15
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