SSENSE's co-founders to buy back the Montreal luxury fashion company

The co-founders of Montreal-based luxury fashion retailer SSENSE announced Sunday that they will be able to buy back the company.

SSENSE said in a statement that “it has been notified by the court-appointed monitor that the bid submitted by its co-founders, Rami Atallah, Bassel Atallah and Firas Atallah, together with their strategic partner, a leading Canadian multi-family office, has been selected as the successful bid in the court-supervised sale and investment solicitation process conducted under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). The parties have entered into a definitive purchase agreement.”

A definitive purchase agreement is the final, legally binding contract in a business acquisition, merger or sale. The strategic partner is not named in the statement, and SSENSE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After filing for bankruptcy protection last summer, SSENSE received court approval to restructure, which allowed the company to continue operations in the meantime and preserve the jobs of its employees. Its primary lenders had tried to force an immediate sale of the company.

Established in 2003 as an online platform and valued at $5 billion in 2021, SSENSE had struggled since the decline of the COVID e-commerce boom.

The retailer cited several factors for its financial distress, including the elimination of a longtime U.S. trade rule known as the de minimis exemption, which allowed goods valued at less than US$800 to enter the country duty free and tax free. A general slowdown in the luxury market affected the company’s young consumer base disproportionately, and SSENSE faced an immediate liquidity crisis when lenders refused to extend or refinance existing loans.

SSENSE said the final transaction is subject to the usual closing conditions, including court and regulatory approvals. Assuming these are received and all other conditions satisfied, the closing is expected no later than Feb. 13.