Moulinex, Europe's third-largest domestic appliance maker, has filed for protection from its creditors, its chairman said.
The company, a household name in Europe and elsewhere for its microwave ovens and kitchen blenders, filed for bankruptcy after talks collapsed over the funding of a third restructuring plan.
Moulinex will continue operations as a French court decides how the firm should be administered.
The company was hit by emerging market crises in Russia, Asia and Latin America and has turned in a profit only twice in the past ten years.
It lost euro 130 million last year and expects losses at a similar level this year.
Moulinex shares were suspended on the Parsi Bourse yesterday after slumping 18 per cent to euro 2.05.
The French company needed to raise around euro 90 million in fresh capital to fund its restructuring plan, which envisaged shutting six plants worldwide and laying off 4,000 of Moulinex's 22,000 employees, Le Mondesaid today.
One of three French plants earmarked for closure, at Alencon in north-west France, was occupied by protesting workers a week ago.