Heller SA

Heller is a French brand of plastic scale model kits of aircraft, tanks, cars, and ships.

Heller was founded in Paris in 1957 by Léo Heller Jahiel and its first model kit was a 1/100 scale Sud Aviation Caravelle, produced the following year. In 1963, a production facility was established in Trun, Orne.

In 1972, Heller joined with Solido (a die cast toy car maker), Jouef (an HO scale train maker) and Delacoste (maker of balloons and toys) to form "Le Jouet Français." In 1980 the company went into liquidation and was in Court directed administration in May 1981. The company was broken up: Majorette bought Solido, Vullierme bought Delacoste, and Jouef was bought back by a subsidiary company of the "CEJI" group (Compagnie Générale du Jouet).

Heller was acquired in 1981 by the Hobby Products Group of Borden, owners of British model company Humbrol. In 1986 Airfix also joined the group. Production of Airfix kits, already in Calais, would subsequently move to the Heller factory in Trun. Heller, with the rest of the Group was acquired by an Irish investment company, Allen, McGuire & Partners, in 1994, and received 31 million francs of investment.

In 1999 Heller re-branded as Heller SA and acquired, together with the Thirion group, French toy manufacturer Joustra.

In 2005, Heller SA was acquired by French buyers but in 2006 once again the company went into administration.

In July 2006 the company was put into receivership and in November Hornby PLC bought sister brands Airfix and Humbrol but not Heller or its factory. By January 2007 Heller SA was transferred to "la société MANOP" (Manufacture d'Objet Précieux) under the direction Benjamin Leneman and over the next 7 years slowly returned to profitability selling model kits.

Heller SA yet again found itself in trouble in 2016. It was "in a situation of non-financial return due to cash flow problems and a decline consumption related to the November attacks." The Commercial Court of Argentan, on 11 March, approved the acquisition of Heller-Joustra (Heller SA) by Maped, following six weeks of administration. Maped, in partnership with entrepreneur Alain Bernard of the New York Finance Innovation (of Paris, France) had invested 3.5 million euros in Heller-Joustra.

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