On Monday, the courts approved the sole takeover bid for Carmat, a French artificial heart manufacturer that had been in receivership since July, following several months of twists and turns.
The Versailles Economic Court "orders the transfer of SA Carmat to SAS Carmat", a new private entity that will take over the business as proposed by Chairman of the Board and shareholder Pierre Bastid in his offer filed in November.
On the social front, "39 employees will be made redundant for economic reasons," with the takeover offer covering 88 of the 127 employees at the beginning of December, according to the decision, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.
The company, which manufactures artificial hearts for patients awaiting heart transplants, was in critical condition since being placed under receivership in early July.
In August, Carmat had been the subject of an initial takeover offer presented by Pierre Bastid, a shareholder with 17%, but this was deemed inadmissible at the end of September, as the businessman had not managed in time to raise the funds to meet the commitments of his takeover plan.
In mid-October, the court granted an extension. Mr. Bastid was the only one to submit a new offer, in partnership with the Ligresti family holding company, Santé Holding, another long-standing shareholder of Carmat.
– Cold shower for small carriers –
The year 2026 will be crucial for the new Carmat: "We need to get things running again" after nearly six months of inactivity, and "we need to remotivate our suppliers," Pierre Bastid told AFP. He will also seek reimbursement agreements from the French national health insurance system (Sécurité sociale) and continue studies to gain access to the American market.
In the medium term, it aims for "achieving economic balance" by 2030/31, saying that in the longer term it plans to "build a +medtech+ player in cardiology in France and why not in Europe".
The company, based in Yvelines, had also attracted the interest of Alpha Blue Ocean, a family office based in Dubai and the Bahamas, according to Mr. Bastid.
On the other hand, for small shareholders, it's a "cold shower": "We are surprised that the same team" is taking up the torch, the president of the Carmat minority shareholders' association (Aamidca), Nadir Ressad, told AFP, estimating the cumulative losses on his investments since Carmat's IPO in 2010 at "one million euros".
The association, which feels "wronged", "does not rule out legal action" to defend its interests, he added, while stressing that some of its 60 members are nevertheless considering "participating in an investment in Carmat 2", which will no longer be listed on the Stock Exchange.
Founded in 2008, Carmat, whose name combines that of its medical inventor Alain Carpentier, a cardiac surgeon, and the company Matra Defense, is one of the few companies in the world to develop a whole artificial heart.
The development of his prosthesis, which mimics the shape and function of a natural heart, had generated considerable enthusiasm, as had the first successful implantation in 2013.
But it wasn't until the end of 2020 that this bionic heart received its European certification as a "bridge to transplantation," meaning for patients with end-stage heart failure awaiting a myocardial transplant. This approval allowed for the first sale in July 2021 to a patient in Italy.
The venture then suffered several setbacks: the premature death of the fifth implanted patient led to the suspension of clinical trials between November 2016 and May 2017, followed by two further deaths linked to malfunctions which led Carmat to voluntarily suspend implantations between the end of 2021 and October 2022 to improve the device.
In total, 122 patients have received transplants with this artificial heart.
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