Fibre Excellence Submits Self-Takeover Bid to Preserve Operations and Jobs

Fibre Excellence has submitted a takeover offer for its own operations as it seeks to ensure the continuation of its industrial and forestry activities following the group's entry into receivership in April.

The pulp producer, which operates sites in Tarascon, Bouches-du-Rhône, and Saint-Gaudens, Haute-Garonne, filed the offer with the Commercial Court on June 1. The proposal covers all of the group's assets, including the Chapelle Darblay site in Seine-Maritime, which has been closed since 2019 by UPM, as well as the company’s entire workforce of approximately 700 employees.

Jean-François Guillot, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fibre Excellence, said management supports the takeover plan and remains confident in the future of the group's operations.

The proposed takeover remains contingent on three decisions expected from the French government before June 17. The first concerns the feed-in tariff for electricity generated at Fibre Excellence facilities. The company is seeking a mechanism that reflects biomass costs and covers actual production expenses.

The second condition relates to wood supply. Fibre Excellence aims to strengthen its partnership with the Office National des Forêts and gradually secure 25% of its wood requirements from French public forests.

The third request is for the Saint-Gaudens facility to be reintegrated into the European carbon dioxide emissions quota system.

According to Guillot, these measures are essential to the economic viability of the group's integrated pulp and electricity production activities.

The takeover project предусматриes the creation of a new corporate structure supported by a shareholders' agreement involving private investors and public stakeholders, including the Occitanie and Sud regions. Fibre Excellence said several letters of intent have already been secured.

The company is continuing discussions to finalize financing, with the offer remaining subject to additional commitments from private investors by July 10, 2026.