Identifying companies in judicial liquidation in France involves navigating between several official and private sources, whose complementarity is not always obvious. The volume of collective procedures is counted each year in tens of thousands of files. The plans for transfer actually approved by the courts remain rare: about 600 “going concern” takeovers per year according to consolidated data from the BODACC. This massive gap between declared liquidations and companies actually taken over deserves to be measured before any action.
Takeover rate versus liquidation volume: the orders of magnitude
The most widespread confusion is to equate “company in liquidation” with “opportunity for takeover.” Commercial courts pronounce tens of thousands of collective procedures (liquidations, recoveries, safeguards) each year. In contrast, transfer plans remain marginal.
| Indicator | Order of magnitude |
|---|---|
| Annual collective procedures (liquidations + recoveries) | Tens of thousands |
| Transfer plans approved by the courts | About 600 per year |
| Takeover / liquidation ratio | Less than 5% |
This ratio means that the vast majority of companies in liquidation do not lead to any takeover. The post-repayment context of PGE and cost pressures accelerate pure and simple disappearances rather than transfers.
For a potential acquirer, filtering viable files requires active and targeted monitoring, not just a one-time consultation. You will also find useful information on Libre d’Agir to structure this monitoring according to your industry and geographical area.
BODACC, commercial courts, and the national business register: what each source covers
The BODACC (Official Bulletin of Civil and Commercial Announcements) centralizes mandatory publications related to collective procedures. Any opening of liquidation, recovery, or safeguard is listed there. The consultation is free, and the search engine allows filtering by type of procedure, date, and location.
The national business register (which replaced the old commercial and companies register for online searches) systematically mentions ongoing procedures. It provides additional information: the company’s history, its directors, its declared activity. For a creditor or a business partner, cross-referencing the BODACC and the national register gives a reliable picture of a company’s legal situation.
The registries of commercial courts remain the most exhaustive source at the local level. Each registry publishes opening judgments and designates the judicial representative or liquidator. This information is accessible on-site or via the registry websites (Infogreffe, for example). Legal announcements published in the regional press complement the system for local identification.
Limitations of official sources
The BODACC only publishes mandatory legal announcements. It does not provide information on the actual state of assets or the window for submitting takeover offers. The national register, for its part, does not indicate whether a transfer plan is being considered. No official source centralizes companies that have actually been taken over or assets to be sold.
Private aggregation platforms: Actify, Bilanea, and others
In the face of this dispersion, platforms like Actify, Bilanea, or Entreprises-a-vendre.com aggregate announcements from the courts, the BODACC, and judicial representatives. Their added value lies in three concrete elements:
- The indication of the original source of each file (court, representative, BODACC), which allows verifying the information at the source.
- The collection date and the window for submitting offers, two data points absent from official databases and crucial for not missing a deadline.
- Filters by industry sector, geographical area, and type of assets (business assets, equipment, stock), which reduces noise for a targeted acquirer.
These private aggregators do not replace official sources. They compile and structure them. However, coverage varies from one platform to another: some focus on business assets, while others focus on industrial assets. No aggregator covers 100% of ongoing procedures.
Monitoring method to identify relevant liquidations in France
The most effective strategy combines three complementary channels. The BODACC serves as the foundation: its email alerts allow you to automatically receive new announcements corresponding to defined criteria (type of procedure, department, sector).
Private platforms serve as a second-level filter. An acquirer interested in catering in Île-de-France, for example, can set up an alert on Actify or Bilanea to receive only the files that match this profile.
The third channel, often overlooked, involves direct contact with judicial representatives and liquidators. These professionals have files that are not always published on the platforms. Consulting the list of representatives by commercial court and contacting them regularly remains a process that is not easily automated but highly rewarding.
- BODACC: free email alerts, national coverage, legal announcements only.
- Private aggregators (Actify, Bilanea, Entreprises-a-vendre.com): advanced filters, submission windows, partial coverage.
- Judicial representatives: access to unpublished files, direct relationship with the court.
- Legal announcements in regional press: useful for local procedures of small structures.
The volume of liquidations in France remains high, but the number of files leading to an effective transfer remains low. Combining official sources, aggregators, and direct contact with representatives is the only method that covers the entire spectrum. The regularity of monitoring is more important than the choice of a single tool.
