A couple who sells their hotel and restaurant business to their employees is a priori a non-event. Except that in this case, Cedar Inn passed on, officially on March 5, by becoming a cooperative .
Even more atypical: it is not only employees but also 19 clients and 4 long-standing private investors who are now part of the 32 new partners of the SCIC (Cooperative Society of Collective Interest) .
SCIC’s choice
As you can imagine, the handover was largely anticipated by the former owners, Françoise Antonin and Lutz Engelmann. Now retired, the couple developed for 30 years the ecotourism establishment located in the middle of the vineyards in Lauret, in the Hérault.
The choice of cooperative status came naturally to them. In the SARL that the ex-managers had created with 4 partners, “the notion of a cooperative spirit has always been very present, most of the members being close to the social and solidarity economy sector. Human values have always been put forward, as has the principle of fairness, both towards customers, suppliers and employees,” explains François Antonin.
Thus, when the principle of a takeover was put on the table five years ago, the takeover by a holding company of executives was quickly ruled out. Over the course of exchanges with the Regional Union of Scop in Occitanie, it is the SCIC status which has proved to be the most suitable.
In a SCOP, two-thirds of the capital must be held by employees, which was difficult to reconcile with the Auberge du Cèdre because half of the employees are seasonal workers. However, the SCIC plans, for its part, to associate employees but also other types of partners, such as customers or loyal suppliers.
Avoid diluting employees
It was not very difficult to convince employees or customers to join the cooperative project. According to Laurent Baccou, elected for four years co-manager with Vera Naegels, “the requests were more numerous than expected but we were advised to limit entries to avoid too cumbersome management”.
Simplifying management and obtaining fluid decision-making was indeed anticipated by the new team. According to the statutes of the SCIC (in the form of a limited liability company), the employees represent 50% of the voting rights, the maximum possible percentage. Knowing that the number of cooperators is expected to grow, it was necessary to avoid excessively diluting the weight of the employees who support the establishment and invest in it.
A difficult assessment
In reality, the main obstacle has been to determine the value of the company. In 2019, three assessments were carried out with the Montpellier CCI, an accounting firm and Scop Occitanie.
But these calculations had to be revised downwards after the Covid-19 crisis which forced the establishment to close, then to be dependent on gauges for two tourist seasons. Even if the company’s cash flow was kept afloat thanks to state aid, the negotiation was therefore more complicated than expected.
“The price of the transfer must also take into account the financial capacities of the buyers and the company, because the goal is not to make it sink in the months that follow! “, emphasizes Françoise Antonin. The repurchase of the shares of the outgoing partners (52.5%) was financed by two loans and the capital contribution of the new cooperative members.
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