The idea of rapprochement from the Reunion company with Corsair is abandoned. The Air Austral Restructuring Plan, transmitted to the European Commission, provides for the injection of 55 million euros of money and the abandonment of claims by the State and the banks, of the order of 180 to 190 million euros.
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The rescue of the Air Austral Reunion Company will not go through a merger with Corsair, also in great financial difficulty after the health crisis. Force with force by the French government but fiercely rejected by the elected officials of the Reunion Regional Council, which holds the company at 73.5 % through the Sample Economy Society Sematis, the solution of the capital rapprochement prepared by the Committee Interministerial industrial restructuring (CIRI) is dismissed.
A series of harsh meetings this summer at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, marked by oppositions which could seem insurmountable, finally led to a restructuring plan of Air Austral, indebted to the tune of 302 million ‘euros and which used, at the end of 2021, more than 800 people.
This roadmap is now validated by Bercy, who has given up imposing his option. The recovery plan was notified, Friday, September 16, to the European Commission by the CIRI. Brussels must now instruct the file, validate it, amend or reject it by mid-October by ensuring that it is in accordance with the public aid regime. The company’s restructuring file and its debt retains the company’s takeover by a dozen private Reunion shareholders. At their head is Michel Deleflie, 82, doctor and CEO of the Clinifutur group (more than 2,000 employees), one of the first ten private hospital groups in France located in Reunion, in Mayotte, in France , in Madagascar and Africa. This investor consortium is committed to injecting 30 million fresh money. At their side, SEMATRA brings additional 25 million, including 15 from the Reunion region, 5 of the Departmental Council and 5 of the Reunion Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Historical Air Austral shareholders.
At the end of these negotiations, the State and the banks gave their agreement to abandon between 80 and 90 % of the 245 million euros in “COVVI-19” debts “. Between 180 and 190 million. Among these claims, loans guaranteed by the State (PGE) will be erased. Bercy also agrees to sponge 20 % on the company’s social debts, which amounts to several tens of millions of euros. “This is a strong commitment from the State and our creditors,” observes the acting CEO of Air Austral, Joseph Brema, for whom “this convergence of points of view” represents a “decisive step”. In a letter addressed to the 830 employees, Mr. Brema says he is “optimistic about the consequences which will be given to our restructuring plan”.
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