Further details have emerged concerning one of the major bidders for troubled French parts supplier Heuliez.
The supplier, employing 600 staff, is currently in administration but France’s industry ministry says three bids have been received and are now under review by the Tribunal de Commerce de Niort.
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Heuliez may well benefit also from some French state aid in order to smooth any transition to a new owner, although the industry ministry has couched this in terms of “financial or technical.”
The Baelen de Gaillard Industries (BGI) group said it had put forward a bit in tandem with German operation ConEnergy, to take over Heuliez’s stamping and electric vehicle operations.
“Effectively, we can confirm the submission of a tandem BGI ConEnergy bid to take over Heuliez’s activities,” a BGI spokesman told just-auto.
“BGI will take over the historic activities of Heuliez and ConEnergy the electric part. This Franco-German partnership is a real industrial offer for Heuliez with the objective of investing and developing the business in the long term.”
ConEnergy is developing the MIA electric vehicle and envisages Heuliez being a key supplier from its Cerizay plant, with the German partner responsible for its distribution.
The German company said it had already secured orders for “a few thousand” MIA vehicles, particularly in its domestic market, with distribution support also coming from the Procar Group.
However, Heuliez’s financial plight has complicated development of the MIA with the project “suffering some significant delays,” although ConEnergy said it now expected to finalise the vehicle around Spring next year.
The French Fonds Stratégique d’Investissement (FSI) will also cooperate with the Fonds de Consolidation et de Développement des Entreprises (FCDE) in the Heuliez project.
The other two bidders for Heuliez are investment group Charles Mircher and Malaysian funds company Delamore and Owl.
