05/10/2024 – 9:00
The Gulliver toy factory has been going through a judicial recovery process since 2017 and is now at risk of having its factory, in the city of São Caetano do Sul, auctioned. The company, however, is trying to suspend the event through legal action.
The expectation is that the 11,551 m2 factory could receive a bid of at least R$52 million at auction.
The company’s general manager Kathia Lavin spoke to the website’s report This is Money and stated that the company has already requested the cancellation of the auction, after reaching an agreement with the Attorney General of the National Treasury to reduce labor debt through tax loss credits.
“Three years ago we had an agreement with the Attorney General’s Office and the original idea was to sell this factory and return to the old factory, which is also here in São Caetano. It turns out that in 2022 there was a change in the legislation regarding companies in judicial recovery and with this lower debt we understand that it is not necessary to sell the entire building, but just a part of it. This way, we wouldn’t need to move the factory,” said the spokeswoman.
Gulliver is racing against time, as the event is scheduled to take place between the 9th and 23rd of October.
This is not the first time the factory has been put up for auction. At the end of 2023, a buyer won the auction, but did not make payment on time and, as a result, the company gained time.
More than 120 products in the catalog
Lavin reinforces that the company is not bankrupt and informs that Gullliver employs around 50 employees in its factory. Furthermore, the manager emphasizes that there are currently more than 120 toys in the company’s catalog and that they are all manufactured in its own factory.
“We are complying with the Judicial Recovery plan correctly. Contrary to what it may seem, the factory continues to operate and we are not going bankrupt,” he added.
Founded in the 1960s by Spaniard Mariano Lavin Ortiz, Gulliver was part of many people’s childhood. Today the company focuses its presence on the market with toys for early childhood in addition to the classic Forte Apache and Futebol Clube.
One of the most remembered toys, especially by those who grew up in the 1990s, is Futebol Clube, which consisted of dolls of football players with movable legs that could kick balls. The company is also very present with button football games.
Furthermore, the little soldiers and Fort Apache were other toys that established the company as one of the best known in the toy industry at the end of the 20th century.
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