La Fonderie de Bretagne (FDB), taken over last year by Europlasma and specializing in cast iron parts for suspensions and exhausts, was placed on Friday July 3 in receivership for cessation of payments, announced the company’s CGT.
The foundry based in Caudan (Morbihan), which employs 245 people, now has until July 17 to find three million euros. If the objective is not achieved, “then it will be liquidation,” said Eric Guyomard, CGT union representative after a closed-door hearing at the Lorient commercial court. Conversely, if the three million euros are raised, the receivership procedure will continue to allow the company to look for a buyer.
Europlasma in the sights of employees
The court’s decision was greeted with relief by some 200 people gathered outside the court. “I expected recovery, not liquidation because the foundry deserves to exist,” reacted Eric Blanchier, employee and CGT elected official, at the end of the hearing which lasted more than an hour and a half. “Now there must be serious people at the head of the factory,” he said.
A series of buyers of industrial sites in difficulty, Europlasma requested on Tuesday that the company be placed in receivership. In April 2025, Europlasma took over Fonderie de Bretagne, heiress to Forges d’Hennebont and long-time supplier to Renault. The group 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 since the takeover, the announced diversification has not been undertaken. In addition, since the serious fire which damaged one of the factory’s furnaces in January, production has never resumed and Europlasma has not paid the entire sums promised, according to Maël Le Goff, CGT delegate of the Fonderie de Bretagne. The boss of Europlasma, Jérôme Garnache Creuillot, present at the hearing, left the premises without a word, avoiding employees and the media.
