Members of the media may directly contact the following experts:
Samir Saadi (English and French)
Associate Professor and Telfer Fellow in Behavioural Finance, Telfer School of Management.
[email protected]
“What is happening with MEC is not a unique case. Many other Canadian retailers (like Comark Holdings Inc. and Aldo Group) are facing tough financial situations made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic and they are all looking for a way out. One sure thing in an acquisition is the target firm cannot satisfy all stakeholders, especially if it is in a situation like MEC where the balance of bargaining power is clearly not in its favour. However, it is nice that MEC decided to go with Kingswood because it seemed to be the only bidder to have agreed to keep 17 of MEC’s 22 stores open, which will save more MEC employees.”
Associate Professor and Telfer Fellow in Behavioural Finance, Telfer School of Management.
[email protected]
“What is happening with MEC is not a unique case. Many other Canadian retailers (like Comark Holdings Inc. and Aldo Group) are facing tough financial situations made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic and they are all looking for a way out. One sure thing in an acquisition is the target firm cannot satisfy all stakeholders, especially if it is in a situation like MEC where the balance of bargaining power is clearly not in its favour. However, it is nice that MEC decided to go with Kingswood because it seemed to be the only bidder to have agreed to keep 17 of MEC’s 22 stores open, which will save more MEC employees.”
Marc Tasse (English and French)
Professor, Telfer School of Management
[email protected]
“It’s the type of sale that we can expect to see more of in the coming months because of the difficulties caused by COVID-19. Now we must measure the impact of this sale and how they will structure the company, whether they maintain the same concept or not, including if the employees will be protected. We still do not have all the details, but they will be expected to respect the regulations already in place.”