Just months after he formally and finally left Cossette, François Duffar is attempting to take over the advertising network he helped to build over 35 years.
A Duffar-led private equity group, Cosmos Capital Inc., announced this morning it was leading an attempt to acquire Cossette for $4.95 per share, a 52.3% premium over its closing price on Friday at the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Cosmos has also entered into an agreement with Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. to acquire its 11.1% of Cossette’s outstanding shares.
In a release, Cossette said its board of directors would meet today to discuss the “unsolicited and non-binding” proposal and would not comment beyond that.
The Cosmos Group includes Duffar, formerly vice chair and president of Cossette, Georges Morin a former Cossette vice-president who just resigned from the company on Saturday, Jean Monty, long-time head of BCE and now president of Libermont Inc., Daniel Bernard, president of Provestis and current chairman of Kingfisher PLC, as well as an unnamed “multi-billion dollar, international private equity firm.”
In a release, Duffar said “a reorganization of [Cossette’s] resources and capital will lead to a more efficient and dynamic Cossette.”
He also said Cosmos’ international shareholder group would allow Cossette to strengthen its presence in “international markets” and that Cosmos would leave Cossette’s head office in Quebec. He also said Cosmos would “welcome enthusiastically the continued participation of the existing senior management team.”
A 2006 inductee into the Marketing Hall of Legends, Duffar joined Cossette in 1974 and founded its Montreal office. He went on to become the network’s president and chief operating officer in 2000, but stepped down in 2007 to focus on business development as vice-chair.
“He was mostly doing business development and nurturing a few key clients,” said Marcel Barthe, agency spokesperson when Duffar’s departure was announced. “[His retirement] will not affect the day-to-day business in any way, since his previous role, while not being specifically replaced as such, has been shared by Claude Lessard, [chairman and CEO] and the current senior management team.”
