In yet another spectacular twist, the court saga around the controversial sale of Adidas to Robert Louis-Dreyfus back in February 1993 continues to hold French lawyers, politicians and tax-payers spellbound. Last year a Paris Appeal Court had awarded unprecedented damages of €135 million to Bernard Tapie, previous owner of Adidas, who claimed that he had been fleeced in the sale to Louis-Dreyfus. The Appeals Court agreed that Tapie’s bank, the formerly state-owned Crédit Lyonnais, had acted unfairly by selling Tapie’s Adidas shares on the basis of a valuation of 2.8 billion French francs (€426.9m-$534.0m) for the entire company, but at the same time sealing a deal with Louis-Dreyfus for a further sale that valued the same company at 4.5 billion FF (€686.0m-$858.2m) – without informing its turbulent client.
The French government, which would have to pay the damages to Tapie as a former owner of Crédit Lyonnais, then referred the case to the Court of Cassation, France’s supreme court. Its chief prosecutor fully backed Tapie’s grievances, stating that Crédit Lyonnais had committed “massive fault,” and suggesting that Tapie’s damages should in fact be raised to more than €145 million. Just three days later, however, the Court of Cassation dashed Tapie’s hopes of a spectacular financial recovery by rejecting the Appeals Court’s verdict and the prosecutor’s judgement, and referring the case back to the Appeals Court.
Perfidious rumors have it that the supposedly independent Court of Cassation disavowed the prosecutor when it heard that Tapie, a former member of Parliament and Urban Affairs Minister, had ordered a massive banquet for the evening of the ruling to announce his return to French politics.
A Paris tribunal was set to hold a preliminary hearing today to decide how to handle the case where Tapie and his wife would be obliged to shed all their belongings due to the liquidation of their former company, Bernard Tapie Finance, which controlled Adidas, but no decision is expected on their fate until the case against Crédit Lyonnais is resolved. Bernard Tapie has in fact publicly vowed to continue his fight in the French courts. A positive judgement would have allowed him to reimburse all his debts. His personal fortune is reportedly estimated at €40 million.
