Joffe & Associés (Mathieu Gaudemet and François-Xavier Fumery) is delighted to have advised the Rouen Normandy Metropolitan Area in defining its land strategy and implementing its urban pre-emption right, enabling it to acquire the Chapelle Darblay industrial site and immediately resell it to a major operator committed to maintaining paper manufacturing activities at the site.
A first in France at this scale and a remarkable example of reindustrialization supporting the circular economy!
For Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, Mayor of Rouen and President of the Rouen Normandy Metropolitan Area:
« This is a historic decision for environmental protection, the circular economy, and reindustrialization in France. And it is happening in the Rouen metropolitan area! In October 2021, Chapelle Darblay’s owner, UPM, was planning to sell the plant to a buyer whose project would have meant ending the on-site recycling and processing of paper and cardboard. We therefore exercised our pre-emption right, as permitted under French law, with a view to transferring the site to a buyer capable of preserving and developing its circular-economy expertise.
Today, we are signing the transfer of ownership of the Chapelle Darblay plant and its production assets to Veolia. This is the first time a local authority in France has exercised its pre-emption right over a site of this scale, including its production assets. On the very same day, we are buying and reselling the site — in this case, to the Veolia Group.
Throughout this fight, we stood our ground, notably alongside union representatives, whose commitment was exemplary and without whom none of this would have been possible. We fight for social and climate justice, and for jobs. »
