by the Corporate Registrar of BC that as of August 2, 1314625 Ontario Limited had been listed as an extraprovincial company having business as a foreign entity in BC. 2020 financial difficulties and sale of assets In November 2018, South African-born CEO David Labistour announced his plans to leave MEC, after 11 years as CEO. Between 2003 and 2008, he had been employed by the firm as "Chief Product Officer". Labistour grew the company's share ownership from 2.7 million members to 5.1 million members and opened 11 new retail locations. Ellen Pekeles was then chair of the Board of Directors. In May 2019 the former chief financial officer at Best Buy Canada, Philippe Arrata, was appointed as CEO of MEC. Arrata had been an MEC board member between 2015 and 2018, and was also an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business. In December 2019, MEC announced a net loss of $11.5 million for the fiscal year that had ended February 24, 2019, which included restructuring charges of $8.5 million. This compared to net earnings of $11.7 million a year earlier. In May 2020 Steve Grant, a former MEC staff member and former member of the board of directors, along with other long-term members, accused the MEC board of rigging its own elections since 2012, to allow it to stack the board with its own preferred members. The board had amended its own rules to allow it to recommend candidates on the ballot that it wanted elected and exclude candidates it deemed unqualified. As of September 14, 2020, MEC owed a syndicate of lenders $74 million. It had suffered loses and laid off 900 employees, in part because of the COVID-19 pandemic. MEC expected to owe $92.4 million by the end of November. Its year-end financial statement indicates that had "lost $11.487 million in 2019 on sales of $462 million", partly due to COVID-19. At that time, the co-op had 5 million members. Sale of the co-op assets On September 14, 2020, it was announced that MEC's assets, including the majority of its retail stores, would be acquired by private equity firm Kingswood Capital Management, LP in a deal under the federal Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act. Kingswood Capital Management plans to retain at least 17 of the 22 existing stores as well as up to 75% of the staff and operate the stores as a