Fonderie de Bretagne finds no buyer, 244 jobs face liquidation in Caudan
Administrators told the works council that no takeover bid was filed for the Caudan foundry, leaving its 244 jobs exposed to a liquidation expected on Thursday, 15 October 2026.
Works council hears no offer was filed
On Tuesday, 13 October 2026, administrators told employee representatives at an extraordinary works council (CSE) that no takeover offer had been filed with the Lorient commercial court. The meeting lasted less than an hour, and local management then came to the canteen of the Caudan plant to deliver the news at the request of staff representatives. Fewer than 100 of the 244 employees were present, according to Ouest France. The liquidation judgment is expected to be pronounced on Thursday, 15 October 2026.
A worker with 30 years at the company said the staff felt they had been taken for a ride, and asked what those years had counted for. Eric Blanchier, a CGT union representative at the foundry, said the workforce had learned the outcome during the morning meeting.
We learned this morning, during the works council, that there will be no offers presented to the commercial court.
Blanchier said the plant would be placed in liquidation as a result, and that a serious buyer had come forward and negotiated with the state and Renault before failing to get what it wanted. That buyer, a European industrial group whose name has not been disclosed, reportedly needed 14 to 15 months to bring in enough production volume.
Europlasma's pledges and the 2026 collapse
Europlasma, a group specialising in depollution and in forged parts for the defence industry, took over the foundry in 2025. It pledged to invest 15 million euros on the Caudan site over three years and to diversify production, including hollow bodies for mortar shells. According to the CGT, the group never paid the full amount promised. Production stopped after a fire in January 2026 and, the union says, never really restarted.
The foundry was placed in redressement judiciaire, a court-supervised restructuring procedure, in early July 2026 for cessation of payments, barely a year after the takeover. Renault created the plant in 1966 and was its longstanding client, so the planned shift from car parts to defence work was central to the project.
- Europlasma takes over the Fonderie de Bretagne
- Production halts after a fire at the plant
- Foundry placed in redressement judiciaire for cessation of payments
- Deadline for takeover bids passes at midnight
- Administrators tell works council no takeover offer was filed
- Lorient commercial court expected to order liquidation
Three bids, one rejected and one tied to Renault
The administrators had initially received three takeover offers, but did not name the industrial bidders. Franceinfo reports that the administrator told unions at the Tuesday meeting that one filing was not credible, and a source close to the file said that offer, which carried suspensive conditions, had very little chance of success.
Another potential buyer had made its offer conditional on Renault committing to a volume of car industry orders. Renault did not do so, according to its chief executive, François Provost, who said on franceinfo that morning:
The issue is that there are no longer any automotive industrial outlets.
Provost added that two years earlier the project had looked interesting because it planned a conversion toward defence, and said he was sad that the recovery plan and the diversification did not seem to have worked.
State reaction and what comes next
Minister delegate for industry Sébastien Martin said in a statement that the state had mobilised fully alongside local authorities. He said that in the days before 13 October he had tried to persuade an interested industrial group to confirm its offer by proposing state financial support for the takeover, without success:
Even in the past few days, I tried to convince an industrial group interested in confirming its offer, offering it state financial support to help with the takeover. Despite these efforts, it did not wish to confirm its offer.
Martin said he would be particularly vigilant that the job protection plan is favourable to the employees and that the Morbihan prefecture would receive instructions to set up support helping workers find new jobs in the local employment area. Loïg Chesnais-Girard, president of the Brittany regional council, and Fabrice Loher, mayor of Lorient, pledged to do everything possible to keep an industrial use for the site. The Lorient commercial court rules on Thursday, 15 October 2026, and Franceinfo describes liquidation as now practically inevitable.
