The Alès slaughterhouse liquidated by the commercial court: towards a privatization of the structure ?

For Max Roustan, “these buyers seem very motivated”. Midi Libre – Alexis BETHUNE

In receivership since March, the structure, managed by a mixed economy company, was liquidated by the commercial court on December 12. The mayor of Alès, Max Roustan, presents a final solution: sell the slaughterhouse to private individuals.

The subject was raised by the municipal council of elected officials of Alès on Monday, December 16.

A few days earlier, on Thursday, December 12, after nine months of receivership, the Gard commercial court in Nîmes ruled in favor of a pure and simple liquidation of the Alès structure. The slaughterhouse, as a reminder, is managed by Semaac (Société d’économie mixte des abattoirs Alès Cévennes), chaired by Mayor Max Roustan.

Read also: The situation of the Alès slaughterhouse, placed in receivership, is evolving: an update on what we know

Lack of tonnage

“30 years, 12 million injected…” In front of elected officials, Max Roustan lists the major periods experienced by the Alès slaughterhouse. “L214… You know ? Those who make videos… L 214 made us lose 2,600 tons. First shock. We went to court, we won, we weren't convicted. There were no mistakes. But we lost tonnage.”

After this legal aspect and the creation of Semaac, “despite the various expenses, the financial health of the slaughterhouse did not improve. Alès Viandes filed for bankruptcy and did not have a serious buyer: 1,200 more tons lost”. The return of enough tonnage of meat was, for the survival of the structure as it exists, the objective to be achieved. “We have not managed to reach the 3,500 tonnes” needed to balance the budget, ten Christophe Rivenq, first deputy.

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A privatization “far-fetched but possible”

However, the mayor puts forward a “final proposal” put on the table. “It's a bit far-fetched, but possible. The idea would be to transfer the slaughterhouse from the public domain to the private domain”, summarizes Max Roustan, proposing a long-term lease and the “provision of all the slaughterhouse equipment belonging to the City” to a private company.

The latter would be piloted by a circle of professionals from the sector, gathered around Olivier Roux, one of the operators of the Tarascon slaughterhouse, and also including Patrick Gravil (breeder and president of Bovigard) and “slaughterhouse employees”, according to the first deputy Christophe Rivenq. “Only the Tarascon slaughterhouse, he continues, cannot absorb its production today. It is full. Taking the Alès slaughterhouse would also help Tarascon.”

“We will perhaps emerge from the void that has been created here”, Max Roustan concludes, which hints at a bitterness: “They know that they will have the tonnage, and that they will be able to charge more for it. Something that the sector has always asked us not to do.” But “for the territorial project, it is essential”.

The project must however be presented before the commercial court in order to hope for a transfer to the private sector from February. A “specific municipal council” should also be organized to ratify this project.

If it does not succeed, the slaughterhouse will close its doors definitively on January 15.

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