Following the hearing on March 10, at which the Commercial Court of Lille reserved its judgement, Timothée Durand’s offer to acquire Arc, whose French subsidiary, Arc France, was placed under court-ordered administration on January 7, has been accepted.
The outcome was not in doubt: the heir of the Durand family, who shaped the history of the glassworks founded in Arques in 1825, received unanimous approval at the hearing. The sale must be approved by the Regional Directorate for the Economy, Employment, Labor and Solidarity (DREETS) for implementation in early April.
Timothée Durand’s offer, backed by Matthieu Leclercq, formerly of Decathlon, is valued at EUR 50 million. This includes the closure of a soda-lime furnace, the H, and 704 job cuts, through either outright layoffs or voluntary departures, while maintaining the workforce at 2,764 employees out of the approximately 3,500 currently employed at the historic headquarters in Arques.
The company could send out termination notices to the affected employees starting April 2. “This is the solution we were hoping for,” stated Nicholas Hodler, CEO since 2018, as he left the courthouse on March 10. “It’s clearly the best, even if it involves a redundancy plan.”
“It’s difficult, but it’s responsible,” asserted Timothée Durand, adding that, “When a company is losing money, you have to make difficult decisions.” He described this plan as “full of hope.”