TEWKSBURY, MA - News broke this weekend that Arthur T. Demoulas had placed a $1.5 billion offer on the table as his latest and final bid for the remaining 50.5% of the Market Basket ownership shares owned by Arthur S. Demoulas' side of the family. According to the Boston Globe, this most recent offer was strengthened by the inclusion of a letter from a yet unreleased private equity firm stating that it is prepared to back Arthur T. Demoulas' offer with $500 million in capital, with the remainder of the offer coming from his private fortune.

With the release of this news, many expected a formal deal to follow closely after. The Governors of Massachusetts and New Hampshire for example released a joint-statement attesting that they expected an agreement to be reached within a matter of days.

“In briefings today, all parties report that they are optimistic that an agreement will be reached to sell the company to Arthur T. Demoulas and to restore him to operating authority on an interim basis until the sale closes,” read the statement from Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan. “We are hopeful that employees will return to work, and the stores will reopen, early next week.”

According to the Boston Globe, Market Basket's Board of Directors had originally scheduled a meeting for Sunday night intended to hammer out the details of an Arthur T. Demoulas' acquisition, but it was canceled after the retailer's shareholders made it evident that they would refuse to sign off on a stock purchase agreement at that time.

What is to happen next is both simultaneously clear and also uncertain. On one hand, most industry experts agree that the best offer on the table is Arthur T.'s, however with the cancellation of the Board's meeting no one is clear about when a decision will be made.

According to John Davis, a Harvard Business School Professor, the only thing that is clear is that something needs to happen soon to put Market Basket back on track.

“Everybody is surprised that it’s taken this long, and I don’t think more weeks of nothing happening is prudent or is even fiscally possible for the company,” Davis said. “There has to be some arrangement if they make a deal...for Arthur T. to be reinstated and for the company to get back on its feet.”

Whenever a deal is reached you can count on AndNowUKnow to bring you the news and analysis first. Stay tuned.  

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