Saint-Saulve. The financial compromise of Valenciennes Métropole to allow the takeover of Ascoval

This Friday, the elected representatives of Valenciennes Métropole had to deliberate on the takeover of the Ascoval company by the German group Saarsthal.

At the very beginning of July, negotiations took place between the Liberty Steel group (which took over the site in August 2020, since facing economic difficulties due to the bankruptcy of its banking partner Greensill) and the steel group Saarsthal. “Although the seller and the buyers agreed on the terms of sale, several conditions precedent remained to be lifted to make this sale possible.“, Indicates Valenciennes Métropole.

This assignment depends in particular on ” the capacity of public creditors (State, Region, Valenciennes Métropole) to lift the conditions precedent that concern them “. Now he was “in particular asked public creditors to abandon part of their loans (67 million euros, including 10 million from Valenciennes Métropole, granted to Liberty in 2019)” to “to reduce the debt of the company Liberty Ascoval and thus allow it to regain a financial autonomy useful to the financing of its operations and its investments ”.

It is on this request that the elected representatives of Valenciennes Métropole had to rule this Friday afternoon. They thus decided to vote for “the abandonment of a significant part of the loan of 10 million euros granted in 2019, for a principal amount which should be of the order of 7.2 million euros“. Valenciennes Métropole has therefore followed in the footsteps of the State which has already signed the protocol of “conciliation“. The Region should follow in the coming days.

Concretely, this means that Valenciennes Métropole will never see 7.2 of the 10 million euros loan granted to Liberty Steel in 2019. It was either that or nothing. “We have been hit with the wall. It was: either the agreement was accepted as it was, or there was no agreement at all (…) Everything was done. We fought to negotiate. But at the end of the day, we are forced to resign ourselves. It is the law of the market which is like that. It’s all the duality of the iron pot against the earthen pot“, Explains the president of Valenciennes Métropole Laurent Degallaix. It was: either to give up these 7.2 million euros, or to see Liberty and the Ascoval site fall under the blow of a judicial liquidation procedure with – at the exit – the loss of 280 jobs.

Quentin Omont, from the Vert et Solidaire group, was the only elected community member to vote against this deliberation. “The purpose of this deliberation is to once again save Ascoval and its jobs. And the parties I represent are happy about it. However, it is proposed here to give up 7.2 million euros of public money without compensation. Saarsthal is presented as a powerful group (3.5 billion turnover and 13,500 employees) but all this very contradictory in view of the efforts required of the public authorities (…) We still do not get out of the traditional blackmail in employment , and this is not acceptable (…) This is why I decided to vote against this deliberation as it stands“. Two other elected officials – Laurent Bigaillon and Marie-Tiphaine Belgarde (by proxy) – chose to abstain.

The mayor of Saint-Saulve Yves Dusart voted for this deliberation, but does not hide for all that “his fears”As to the future. Between “the hopes”And“good intentions“, The process of taking over Ascocal -“and the conditions imposed on us“, He said – leaves him“an aftertaste in the throat“. “The ratio of public commitment to employment is excessively expensive (between 250,000 and 300,000 euros for a job (…) We are caught between a rock and a hard place. And at the same time, we don’t have to to date no guarantee on the stability of the company and employment“, He explains.

A feeling shared by Isabelle Choain and Laurent Depagne, respectively presidents of the groups “Uni.es pour le Progrès” and “Progrès et Solidarité” within the Agglo council. “It is a significant sum that we are going to leave. But this is perhaps the price to pay to save these 280 jobs (…) It would be good if we could have a look at the use of this public money. With regard to this investment, we are entitled to demand accountability for the use of this money.“, Said Isabelle Choain in particular. “It is normal for the public authorities to participate in safeguarding jobs. But what about commitments not kept by our large groups? We vote on this deliberation with a note of caution for the future“, Said Laurent Depagne for his part.

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