Lowe’s is an American company that operates a chain of retail home improvement and appliance stores throughout North America and has now bought Rona, a Canadian company, for 3.2 billion dollars. This deal has been years in the making and isn’t the first time the American company has tried to purchase Rona. Back in 2012, Lowe’s attempted to buy the Quebec-based hardware chain but was unsuccessful due to shareholders’ worries about supply operations being centralized in the US.
On February 3, 2016, boards of both companies finally approved the transaction. The Canadian headquarters will be based out of Rona’s headquarters in Boucherville and remain headed by Lowe’s Canada’s current president, Sylvain Prud’homme. Lowe’s agreed to continue to employ the majority of its current employees and maintain key executives from Rona’s leadership team.