At this point, the Market Basket stalemate has been reduced to a war of words, or more like dueling statements. Here’s the latest:
The following statement was issued Aug. 9 on behalf of the “Class A Shareholders” of Demoulas Super Markets, Inc. aka Market Basket.
In response to the current situation involving Demoulas Super Markets, Inc. (Market Basket), the Class A Shareholders, who have remained silent to try to resolve this dispute privately, feel compelled to correct the public record.
We care deeply about Market Basket, its employees, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders and have been working around the clock with our advisors to find a workable solution.
We are, and have been, prepared to sell our majority ownership interest in Market Basket to the Class B Shareholders led by Arthur T. Demoulas for the price proposed by Arthur T. Demoulas. We offered deal terms that our nationally recognized financial advisors informed us are customary for this type of deal.
The Class A Shareholders, including trustees with fiduciary duties, have offered to provide financing for Arthur T. Demoulas’ purchase if he does not have enough cash to close. The terms included an interest bearing loan secured by collateral that has an acceptable payment schedule. We have been advised that it would be irresponsible to make a loan without collateral, interest or a payment schedule, similar to terms that would apply to any traditional bank loan.
Our proposal would permit Arthur T. Demoulas to return to work immediately to work collaboratively to stabilize the business on terms proposed by the independent directors of the Market Basket Board if the Class B Shareholders would commit to buy our interests. Our proposal, made last week and reiterated throughout this week, has not been accepted.
Arthur T. Demoulas’ conduct to date, including his most recent public statement, continues to undermine Market Basket, and the Class B Shareholders have not indicated a willingness to engage in good faith discussions for a sale. The Class B Shareholders have given us no choice at this time but to consider all available options to sell our equity in order to protect the interests of all Market Basket stakeholders.
We have given Arthur T. Demoulas and the other Class B Shareholders many opportunities to end the current controversy. We continue to be prepared to sell our interests in Market Basket for the price originally proposed by Arthur T. Demoulas.
