Today 360 employees working on its sites

The two buildings of Mecachrome stand on heights of Amboise (Indre-et-Loire). At the controls of a huge Japanese machine tool to 600,000 euros, Anthony, twenty-four years, plant a piece that will soon join the wing of an Airbus. The young acting, which was imagined to find a day in a precision engineering company, does not hide his pride: "I prefer to work here rather than in the restoration or the sorting of waste," he smiles. Like him, 450 employees House appear to dedicate a cult in Silmeca, Mecachrome tourangelle subsidiary. Their box "Job well done, quality, respect for clients and leaders," it enthused employees. But the confidences will stop there. Difficult to penetrate the secrets of the scene. No outsider is accesses the F1 engines for example, production line not even employees of other services. This sense of belonging and meticulous confidentiality is shared on all sites. Here, strong claims step and a single trade unionist to the central Committee of enterprise, stamped Force ouvrière. All other representatives of the staff are without label. A beautiful small, good team work, behind a charismatic leader.

Except that this family building collapsed last week. November 10, Gérard Casella, CEO and son of the founder, Eugène Casella, was landed insensitively by the Board of Directors, and replaced by the Belgian Christian Jacqmin to the Presidency of the group, while he holds 32 of the shares and 82 of the voting rights. A real "coup", denounced the person concerned. The result, above all, an incredible rout for this business that seemed to have everything to succeed: a peak trade, prestigious customers (Airbus, Boeing, Renault, Porsche...) and a good order book with... But a poorly controlled expansion and a governance poor led Mecachrome the brink. Etranglé by cash flow problems, the group now verges on the cessation of payments. For Gérard Casella, born the same year as the company, in 1937, it is "a fine mess". As a refinancing plan was about to be sealed off with the State, Airbus and the CEA. "Our roads can be separated here...". ", wants to believe the principal shareholder.

Canadian adventure

It is the fate of Mecachrome and its 2,000 employees concern many people. Strategic subcontractor in the fields of aerospace and automotive, family group also provides parts for the nuclear missiles of the French deterrent force. The authorities therefore follow very closely the record. "I received many messages of support from our customers and even the Prime Minister, François Fillon, who was Mayor of Sablé when we have implemented a plant". "I was in two days to find a solution," says, amer, Gérard Casella, who the employees always committed some admiration, despite the errors of the Canadian experience. A strategic shift that has marked the beginning of the trouble...

It is his son William, married to a daughter of the Bombardier constructor, who led the move across the Atlantic. In 2007, his father also appoints the President and CEO of Mecachrome and took Canadian citizenship. The French subsidiary falls to his second son, Arnaud, a graduate engineer of normal overtime "When the father speaks, everyone starts to stand then darkens with him." "To follow the son, there is much more reticence", observed close to the historical leaders. And concealment, the Casella family is going to give rise to much by choosing exile in Quebec.

The origin of this decision, in 2001, it is the wish to make in dollar zone and move closer to Boeing. The company first bought a workshop in Montreal, and has built a plant in Mirabel, more to the North. Today, 360 employees working on its sites. "Mecachrome France took seventy years to reach this size." It only took only seven Mecachrome Canada, said Jacky Chauvière, delegate FO. Everything went too fast. Today, French factories elsewhere continue to manufacture parts that were to be produced there.

To finance this unbridled expansion, Mecachrome opened its capital and placed 20 of its capital on the stock exchange in October 2007. A semi-public investment fund, the Fund of Quebec workers (FTQ), took 13 (1), and the company also developed a few loans on the back. In this way, 150 million euros of financing could be found. Unfortunately, the industrial context quickly douché hopes of home: transatlantic, strikes at Boeing have caused delays in the construction of the B787. In Europe, the offsets of the A400M programme and, to a lesser extent, those of the A380 also leaded the accounts. On top of all, the new formula 1 regulations reduced the number of engines allowed for each stable at great prices from seven to two. In the company, which provides Renault and also manufactures engines for Peugeot at the 24 hours of le Mans, some then pleaded for the withdrawal of the paddocks. An abandonment inconceivable for Gérard Casella, crazy about motor sport, to the point of having purchased in 2005 Office studies Heini Mader, in Gland, near Geneva. "For his own pleasure", provide the bad language. And "to ensure activity during his Swiss retirement..." Gérard Casella, he noted that the automobile sport, which represents 45 of the turnover, "still" crucial in the activity of Mecachrome His great fear is that the new Directorate advocates a separation between aerospace and automotive.

An urgent need for liquidity

Should, in any case, find a solution. According to recent estimates, the need for cash approaching EUR 50 million and the accumulated debt would exceed 200 million. A US Fund, KPS Capital Partners, has already visited the French factories last week, which fears a dismantling. Several UMP elected, including the Deputy-Mayor of AUBIGNY (Cher), Yves Fromion, warned the Government stressing the "strategic" business character.

To meet the most urgent, Mecachrome leaders suspended a bond purchased from New York City financial interests. Christian Jacqmin thus offered a small breath of oxygen to find cash. Monday, the new boss tried to reassure the staff of the French sites. But he knows that it is, also, an ejection seat. With 82 of the voting rights, Gérard Casella remains decision-making and may convene a general meeting of shareholders to oust his rival. "The company is going wrong and I do not want to destabilize it a little more, ensures the person." I will wait a few days to respond. "The Mecachrome paper is may not be completed. \