Fonderie de Bretagne (FDB), taken over last year by Europlasma, will request its placement in receivership for cessation of payments on Tuesday, during an extraordinary economic and social committee, the company’s CGT announced on Friday June 26. “Despite successive alerts” on the situation at the Caudan factory, in Morbihan, “we have never been taken seriously, yet the facts are there,” laments the union in a press release.
A serial buyer of industrial sites in difficulty, recently heard by the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the “predation of productive capacities by speculative funds”, the Europlasma group recorded a net loss of 35.6 million euros in 2025, more than twice as high as the previous year.
Broken promises
The group based in Landes took over the Fonderie de Bretagne in April 2025, which produced cast iron parts for suspensions and exhausts.
Europlasma had committed to investing 15 million euros on the Caudan site over three years and stated that it wanted to diversify production, in particular with the production of hollow bodies for the manufacture of mortar shells.
But production on the Breton site has never resumed since a serious fire that occurred in January on one of the ovens, and Europlasma has never paid the full sums promised, Maël Le Goff, union representative of the CGT of FDB, told AFP. In January, the factory, heir to the Forges d’Hennebont and long-time supplier to Renault, employed around 260 people.
“I note that Europlasma has not kept the financial and industrial commitments made during the takeover,” declared Friday the Minister Delegate in charge of Industry, Sébastien Martin. “The contributions announced and the investments promised remained much lower than what had been presented to the court,” he underlined.
“The State and the communities have kept their commitments and supported the company, particularly after the fire that occurred at the beginning of the year. A few days before the payment of salaries, the directors and shareholders of Europlasma, responsible for this situation, must be held accountable,” insisted the minister.
Europlasma (FDB but also Valdunes, Forges de Tarbes, etc.) announced in April that it was discussing with a “French industrialist in the defense sector” for a potential takeover of its defense activities, but no announcement has been made since.
One of its subsidiaries, Satma Industries, was placed in receivership by the Grenoble commercial court on June 2. Another, FP industries, “specialized in asbestos removal and management of industrial pollution”, will be liquidated.
