24th Jun 2015 10:35
Groupe Eurotunnel (Paris:GET) announced,
Almost 6 months ago, on 9 January 2015, that it would sell its maritime business following the decisions by the Competition and Markets Authority. MyFerryLink acquired the SeaFrance ships after SNCF allowed its subsidiary to be liquidated, leading to a large number of redundancies. Following a two stage tender process, Groupe Eurotunnel retained the offer from DFDS and signed a bareboat rental agreement with that company for the ships Berlioz and Rodin starting on 2 July 2015. The ships can be sold to DFDS on Groupe Eurotunnel’s initiative, once the inalienability clause is lifted or, at the latest, in mid-2017. MyFerryLink is not the employer of the SCOP SeaFrance staff. The SCOP SeaFrance attempted, without success, to put together a takeover plan. The recent promises of support are late arriving and useless and do nothing but create false hope for the employees The sale of the SCOP SeaFrance, which was decided upon by the judicially appointed Administrators (AJ) does not, in any way, relate to the ships which are owned by the Group but solely to the few assets owned by the SCOP. This process cannot in any way lead to offers to acquire the ships and neither can it enable unsuccessful candidates to take up new positions. Groupe Eurotunnel regrets that in the meeting which was held, at its initiative, between DFDS and the AJ, on 9 June 2015, the latter declared that they did not wish to discuss social issues. Groupe Eurotunnel is concerned that the recent protests by members of the Maritime Nord Union will only serve to compromise the proposal to recruit staff by DFDS. Groupe Eurotunnel, which has kept the governments, local authorities and the Maritime Nord Union regularly informed of the state of progress in negotiations, cannot allow it to be believed that there is a better solution than that which has been put in place. Groupe Eurotunnel requests that the AJ immediately start the negotiations for which they are responsible with the acquirerEurotunnel Contacts:For UK media enquiries contactJohn Keefe on + 44 (0) 1303 284491Email: [email protected]orFor investor enquiries contact:Jean-Baptiste Roussille on +33 (0)1 40 98 04 81Email: [email protected]orMichael Schuller on +44 (0) 1303 288749Email: [email protected]
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