Leading French security transporter goes belly-up

PARIS, July 27 (AFP) – Valiance Fiduciaire, France’s leading money transportation company, was declared bankrupt Tuesday and placed under a six-month administration to see whether a buyer would emerge, court officials said.

The Paris commercial court, in a closed-door meeting, declared the company under court protection and appointed an administrator.

Trade unions said Valiance had been forced into bankruptcy under a mountain of debt after the refusal of its principal shareholder UBS Private Equity, which holds an 80.3 percent stake, to finance a job reduction plan undertaken in March.

The units said Valiance chief executive Michel Leblanc, who officially announced the bankruptcy at a meeting Monday of the company works committee, explained that the decision was taken because the firm, which employs 3,000 people, had debt of EUR 94 million (USD 114.2 million), of which EUR 50 million were due.

Leblanc said two Scandinavian companies, Securitas of Sweden and Groupe 4 Falck of Denmark, were potential buyers, a union member who attended the meeting said.

A Valiance spokesman told AFP that discussions were under way for a partial acquisition by Securitas, which is the favoured candidate because it had already bought Valiance’s telesurveillance subsidiary Eurotelis this year.

The Brink’s company’s French unit Brink’s France said Monday it would make a partial takeover offer for Valiance, aimed at about a third of its businesses, excluding the Paris region.

© AFP

Subject: French news