BC’s Supreme Court approved the sale of Mountain Equipment Co-op Friday to US-based private firm Kingswood Capital Management, to the dismay of co-op members opposed to the sale.
Justice Shelley Colleen Kingswood read her decision Friday morning in Vancouver, giving the stamp of approval for MEC’s sale to go ahead. MEC’s board of directors announced the sale last month amid faltering financial performance that the pandemic only made worse.
The sale would turn Canada’s largest co-op into a private company, which many co-op members were against.
“The court’s decision is deeply disappointing,” Kevin Harding wrote in the Facebook group Save MEC Friday.
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“We are thinking of our adventure buddies and neighbours, the MEC employees all across the country who shared our co-op’s values of quality, integrity, co-operation, creativity, leadership, sustainability, stewardship, humanity and adventure,” he wrote.
“We know MEC won’t be the same for you, and it probably hasn’t been the same for a while.”
The vocal group of members, who all paid $5 to own one share, started a petition last month to keep the business a co-op, but ultimately were unsuccessful.
The group will be hosting a virtual town hall on October 5 to discuss next steps now that the sale is proceeding.
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