One of Market Basket’s founding family members, Arthur T. Demoulas, is blasting away at the private equity group that has a major ownership stake and he says is ruining the company.
The chain has dozens of locations across New England, including two in Rhode Island.
The private equity group, Exeter Capital, is a Boston-based firm. The firm is led by Steven Collins, whose bio says in part, “Steven led or co-led over ten investments deploying over $2 billion of private equity capital. He also acted as the Chief Financial Officer of Kirkland’s, an Advent portfolio company, for one year. Prior to joining Advent, Steven was in M&A Investment Banking at Merrill Lynch.”
Demoulas, also known as “Artie T.,” issued a statement following Tuesday’s firing of top executives Tom Gordon and Joe Schmidt by the Market Basket Board of Directors.
Demoulas said, "Stephen Collins called Tom Gordon and Joe Schmidt today and fired them. In addition to being men of strong character, these are two of the brightest and best grocery store operators in the business, and their extraordinary work has been key to building this company and its culture.”
“This is among the worst decisions that could be made by this board. Steven Collins of Exeter Capital doesn’t understand this company’s culture. Nor do his fellow board members Jay Hachigian of Gunderson Dettmer and Michael Keyes of Intercontinental Real Estate. To them, Tom, after 50 years with the company, and Joe after 39 years, are easily cast aside. They are just collateral damage in this pre-planned coup,” added Demoulas.
“To Market Basket, Tom and Joe are part of the heart and soul of the company and key executives in its immense success to date. They are men of integrity and honor and belong on the Market Basket team, and we will use all efforts to reverse this heartless and unwarranted decision,” said Demoulas.
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