For the second time in seven months, the Rossy family is selling $150 million worth of shares in Dollarama, a retailer founded in Montreal in 1992 by Larry Rossy, father of current Dollarama CEO Neil Rossy.
The Rossy Foundation, a private holding company of the Rossy family, along with Neil Rossy, sell a total of 1.7 million shares of Dollarama.
Dollarama shares, which were worth $79 at the start of the year, hit a high of $90 this month on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Last December, a private Rossy family holding company and the Rossy Foundation sold a total of 1.75 million shares of Dollarama.
The sale of shares by the family holding company is carried out for the purpose of “financial diversification” while the money raised by the foundation must be used to finance existing commitments to various charities, it is explained by press release.
The mission of the Rossy Foundation is to improve the lives of Canadians, particularly with regard to civic engagement, education and the arts, mental health and cancer care.
This is the seventh time in four years that the Rossy family has sold large blocks of Dollarama stock.
Following the stock sales completed this month, the Rossys’ private holding company, the Rossy Foundation and Neil Rossy will together hold a total of 6.6 million shares of Dollarama, the equivalent of an approximate stake of 2.3% in the company.
Listed on the stock exchange in the fall of 2009, Dollarama shares continued to rise. The title has been split twice since the initial public offering, that is to say in 2014 and in 2018. The market value of the company is now approaching the threshold of 25 billion dollars.
Nine of the fourteen analysts who officially follow Dollarama’s activities recommend buying the stock.
Last month’s release of the start-of-year financial performance showed quarterly sales up 21% year-on-year. Dollarama also announced two weeks ago the departure of its CEO, J.P. Towner, who left to take up the same role at Rona.
