Financial crisis sinks French yacht maker Couach

PARIS, March 30 (Reuters) - French luxury yacht maker Couach (YACHT.PA) applied for court protection from creditors as it failed to secure a deal with banks over the restructuring of its debt, the group said in a statement on Monday.

The group had been in negotiations with banks about its 23 million euros ($30.42 million) debt for over two months.

But "the current financial and banking crisis annihilated all our efforts," it said in the statement.

Couach chairman Andre-Jean Goimard will leave the company.

Couach, which has shipyards near Arcachon on the Atlantic coast, has sales of about 80 million euros and employs more than 300 people, who have been laid off temporarily.

Other companies in the luxury yacht industry are also struggling to cope with a 50 percent fall in demand from wealthy customers between September and November alone.

"A boat is not a necessity, you can easily postpone its purchase," says Thomas Alzuyeta, an analyst at Fortis bank.

Couach's competitor Rodriguez Group (RDGP.PA), which is based in Cannes on south coast of France, has similar difficulties and has been discussing debt arrangements with banks since Dec. 17.

It postponed its general meeting, which was originally scheduled for last week.

Shares in Rodriguez group plunged after Couach's announcement, and closed down 9.39 percent, at 2.8 euros.

Trading in Couach, which has a market value of some 29 million euros, was suspended on Monday. The shares gained 3 percent this year after an 80 percent drop in 2008.

The Cazeaux family owns 75 percent of Coauch.

(Reporting by Michel Rose and Gilles Guillaume, editing by Marcel Michelson)