Cossette has retained BMO Capital Markets and Ogilvy Renault to assist in the review of the takeover bid from former president Fran ç; ois Duffar.
Cossette created a special committee of its board of directors to review the surprise bid shortly after it was announced July 20. BMO and Ogilvy will assist that special committee—in financial and legal matter s respectively—while Fasken Martineau will act as legal advisor to the company.
The bid is from Cosmos Capital, a group led by Duffar along with former Cossette vice-president Georges Morin, long-time BCE head Jean Monty, president of Libermont Inc. and Daniel Bernard, president of Provestis and current chairman of Kingfisher PLC.
Cossette’s special committee is chaired by Jean Lavigueur, chief financial officer of Coveo Solutions. Other members include Robert Beauregard, a former executive at JWT, Raymond Boucher, former board chairman of Société des alcools du Québec and CEO of BBDO Montréal, and Paule Gauthier, senior partner at Stein Monast where she specializes in corporate and commercial law.
In a release announcing the moves, Cossette asked shareholders to “defer any action in response to the unsolicited and non-binding proposal of Cosmos Capital until the committee and the board of directors have had an opportunity to fully review such proposal and evaluate all of the Company’s strategic alternatives.”
A spokesperson for Cossette declined to provide any further comment on Cossette’s review of the Cosmos offer, saying the company has chose to provide updates via press release only for the time being.
