Montréal luxury e-commerce platform Ssense will return to the hands of its founders after an unsuccessful attempt by its lenders to block a deal.
The bid includes plans for the business’ continued operation, a cash payment of $58.5 million, and assuming some liabilities.
In a ruling on Feb. 4, a Superior Court of Québec judge dismissed a request from Ssense’s main lenders to force an asset sale of the embattled company. Instead, the court affirmed that a buyback bid from Ssense’s founders, valued at $78 million, should be granted. According to The Business of Fashion, Ssense’s executive team told staff the same day that this would allow Ssense to continue operations, pending regulatory approval.
Ssense entered insolvency proceedings in September, after its lenders sought a quick sale amid a cash crunch at the company. The company reached an agreement with its lenders to continue operations as it underwent a sale and investment solicitation process.
Ssense’s lenders are the Bank of Montreal, the Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, National Bank of Canada, and JPMorgan Chase, which are owed more than $113 million collectively. Investissement Québec, which had lent Ssense$21.3 million to automate its fulfillment centre, also contested the founder-led deal.
In January, the company announced that the winning bid was from brothers and co-founders Rami Atallah, Bassel Atallah, and Firas Atallah alongside a “leading Canadian multi-family office,” pending court and regulatory approvals.
According to the new ruling, the founders’ initial $20-million bid in December was deemed inadequate by the court-appointed monitor. Their second bid, valued at $78 million by the court monitor, included plans for continued operations of the business, a cash payment of $58.5 million, and assuming certain liabilities. The founders also told the court they planned to retain “approximately 660 regular employees and 100 occasional, on-call employees.”
But a group of Ssense lenders, including Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada, tried to block the deal and filed a notice of contestation. The lenders instead wanted the judge to order Ssense’s assets liquidated, arguing that the founder-led buyback would “result in a significantly lower economic outcome.”
The ruling also noted that though all of Ssense’s secured creditors opposed the buyback bid, several of the debtors’ suppliers and unsecured creditors supported the deal.
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Founded by the Atallah brothers in 2003, Ssense is an e-commerce retailer specializing in designer fashion and high-end streetwear, along with editorial content. Valued at $5 billion in 2021, the company’s sales fell between 2023 and 2025 as consumer luxury habits changed and interest rates rose, according to court filings.
Retail headwinds increased in 2025 as Ssense faced the elimination of the de minimis exemption, which made packages under $800 USD free to ship into the US. In September, Ssense had assets of $387 million against liabilities of $371 million, including loans to lenders and vacation pay for employees.
Liquidity issues had put Ssense and its lenders at loggerheads. After rejecting a refinancing plan put forward by Ssense in July 2025, lenders applied to place Ssense under the protection of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) and force a sale without its consent in late August.
In response, Ssense said it was “deeply disappointed” and filed its own CCAA application. In September, the company and its lenders reached an agreement that would give Ssense nearly $40 million in interim financing while it underwent a court-supervised process to sell or find other funding.
Feature image courtesy Ssense.