Reuters: Bankruptcy News: UPDATE 1-French consortium could bid for poultry group Doux

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UPDATE 1-French consortium could bid for poultry group Doux Jul 5th 2012, 13:41 Thu Jul 5, 2012 9:41am EDT * Oilseed group Sofiproteol says in talks on joint bid * Le Figaro says government backing consortium offer * Deadline for bids for indebted Doux later on Thursday (Recasts with comments from Sofiproteol, adds detail and background) PARIS, July 5 (Reuters) - French oilseed producer Sofiproteol is in talks on a joint offer for poultry group Doux, as a deadline looms for bids for the troubled company whose administration in early June threatens 3,400 workers and 800 French poultry farmers. Family-owned Doux, one of the world's biggest poultry exporters, has been weighed down by debts of 340 million euros ($423 million) and administrators have launched a call for bids, with a deadline later on Thursday ahead of a commercial court hearing on July 16. A Sofiproteol spokeswoman said the company was in talks on a possible bid after French daily Le Figaro said a consortium headed by Sofiproteol would make an offer for the whole of Doux and had the backing of France's new Socialist government. The government is trying to avoid factory closures as unemployment stands at its highest since 1999. The Sofiproteol spokeswoman confirmed that the group, together with its animal-feed joint venture Glon Sanders, were involved in talks, but declined to disclose other consortium parties or the possible scope of a joint bid. "Sofiproteol would have a unifying role in this project but we can't specify the role of each party at this stage. This is yet to be determined," she told Reuters. "Glon is involved as an industrial group and an animal-feed maker via Sanders," she said. "In parallel, Sofiproteol's involvement is as a development bank that takes minority stakes or issues loans to agribusiness companies." Glon Sanders had told Reuters last week it was in discussions with Doux's administrators, without giving further details. Sofiproteol is a holding company at the head of a series of farm-sector companies, centred on oilseed crops and derived products, but which also extends to animal feed, egg and pig-breeding sectors. Le Figaro said the consortium would also include poultry groups LDC and Tilly Sabco, and farm-sector cooperatives Terrena, Maïsadour and Triskalia. LDC said last week it would look at Doux while a source close to the matter said LDC, Terrena and Triskalia were in talks with Doux's administrators. No-one at the French economy ministry was available to comment on whether it was supporting the consortium. Doux is 80 percent family-owned, with the remainder held by French bank BNP Paribas. (Reporting by Elena Berton, Sybille de La Hamaide and Jean-Baptiste Vey; Writing by Gus Trompiz; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters and David Holmes) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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