The management of French pulp producer Fibre Excellence has submitted a takeover bid to the Toulouse Commercial Court, stepping forward as the group's own rescuer after no external buyer came forward. The offer, filed on 1 June, covers all of the group's industrial and forestry assets and its entire workforce of nearly 700 employees.
Fibre Excellence has been under court-ordered receivership since 27 April, following the expiry of a conciliation period with the French government that failed to produce a solution for the financially stricken company. The group operates two pulp mills — in Saint-Gaudens (Haute-Garonne), with capacity of approximately 280,000 tonnes per year, and in Tarascon (Bouches-du-Rhône), with capacity of approximately 250,000 tonnes per year — producing bleached hardwood kraft pulp, bleached softwood kraft pulp, and unbleached softwood kraft pulp. The bid also encompasses Chapelle Darblay, a site in Seine-Maritime closed by UPM in 2019 that Fibre Excellence subsequently acquired.
The proposal envisages the creation of a new company to acquire all group assets and retain the workforce. The structure would be underpinned by a shareholders' agreement involving private investors alongside public stakeholders, including the Occitanie and Sud regions. Management says several letters of intent from investors have already been obtained, though finalisation of the financing arrangement remains ongoing.
"Management and I are putting forward this takeover bid because we firmly believe in the future of our sites," said Jean-François Guillot, CEO of Fibre Excellence. "We are working hand in hand with all the teams, fully aware of the road ahead. Nothing is guaranteed: to ensure the long-term viability of the business, the key is to secure the fundamentals of our competitiveness in France."
The bid comes with significant conditions attached. Management has set a 17 June deadline for three commitments from the French government: a feed-in tariff for electricity generated at its sites that reflects actual production costs; secured access to at least 25% of public timber supplies; and reintegration into the European CO₂ quota system. Guillot described these as essential drivers of competitiveness for the group's combined pulp and renewable energy production model. A second deadline of 10 July has been set for finalising private investor commitments.
Beyond its direct workforce, Fibre Excellence estimates it supports approximately 10,000 indirect jobs across France's forestry, wood processing, and paper sectors. Management framed the bid explicitly in terms of industrial sovereignty, citing pulp as a strategic input for a range of essential everyday products.
The coming weeks will be critical. With government decisions due by 17 June and investor financing to be locked in by 10 July, the viability of the management-led rescue hinges on parallel progress on both fronts.
