In Toulouse, justice suspends the sale of the former Saint-Jean-du-Languedoc clinic
The summary judge considered as unlawful the general meeting of owners organized by correspondence by the firm L’Immeuble which had retained a sale proposal for 24 million euros from the Vinci group.
The roads of Toulouse real estate are decidedly impenetrable. And when justice gets involved, it has encountered odd practices, the opacity of which is commensurate with the financial interests at stake. On the 3 hectares of the site of the former Saint-Jean-du-Clinic Languedoc, route de Revel in the Montaudran district, promised to the Vinci group for 24 million euros, the imbroglio is total. Seized by some of the more than 400 partners holding part in the five real estate companies (SCI) owners of the land, the summary judge has just suspended the decision of sale price by a general meeting (AG) held by simple exchange of letters at the request of Jean-Marc Vergnes, the boss of the firm L’Immeuble which manages the five SCIs.
It is up to the partners to choose remotely among the financial proposals of the six interested promoters, without further information. Vinci is therefore miraculously out of the hat, but the summary order of the Toulouse judicial court notes that “the statutes of the SCIs have not been respected, which constitutes a manifestly unlawful disorder”, justifying the suspension of the operation, while waiting for a final judicial decision to rule on the invalidity of the famous consultation. “It would have at least had to go through an extraordinary GA which requires 75% of favorable votes and not an ordinary GA which is satisfied with 50% of membership”, explains the lawyer at the origin of the procedure. Another pebble in the shoe of Jean-Marc Vergnes, who was voted in passing a commission of 10% of the sale, or 2.4 million euros, urgently … The manager of the firm L’Immeuble has appeals from the summary proceedings, but it has accumulated for years, in this case, management anomalies, maintaining opacity, without informing its members, nor providing accounting documents, nor organizing annual general meetings, however regulatory.
A judicial investigation in progress
A “disorder” which culminated with the departure of the Capio group site and the Saint-Jean-du-Languedoc clinic for Quint-Fonsegrives, in 2018, three years ago, while the linked Swedish group was initially at SCI by a non-cancellable deposit of 9 years renewable. The associated owners then lost rent of over 2.5 million euros per year for 30,000 m2 of fallow hospital premises and have since been kept away from transactions.
An investigation by the public prosecutor at the regional judicial police service is also underway, which has extended to all of Jean-Marc Vergnes’ activities on the Toulouse real estate market and which could, in the long term, to unearth the questionable uses of the sector. One thing is certain, the former Saint-Jean-du-Languedoc clinic interests many people. Starting with the town hall of Toulouse through the voice of Annette Laigneau, the elected official in charge of town planning, who asked in a letter of last December to be associated “more closely” with the process of selling the land of Montaudran, saying he fears “speculation” and an “exclusively financial” approach. The deputy has the same user risk of his pre-emption right on the basis of an assessment of 14 million euros carried out by France Domaines. “Except that in the meantime, the local urban plan (PLU) has been canceled”, notes one of the injured co-owners, a little called from the (under) valuation made by the State services which would harm, according to him the owners. And this, while the nearby Saint-Exupéry clinic is making its interest in an expansion known by offering 3.2 million euros on half of the land, although the lapsed PLU prohibited the return of medical activity. Did you say weird?
The shadow companies of the firm l’Immeuble
At the Toulouse commercial court, the real estate firm l’Immeuble managed by Jean-Marc Vergnes, which is notably in charge of the 5 civil companies (SCI) owners of the former Saint-Jean clinic, has become a textbook case. . The company’s articles of association, now obsolete, have never been updated, despite the death in 2016 of the previous manager, Jean-Robert Vergnes, who was not reported by his son. In addition, no update of the more than 400 associates of the 5 SCIs has been made as is mandatory while transfers of social parts, donations and deaths have been reported, as many acts that have been officially declared. , in particular with the taxes that Jean-Marc Vergnes is visibly unable to provide, despite the successive injunctions of the commercial court. In the absence of Jean-Marc Vergnes companies, in fact, an influence of the commercial register.