@Landsteiner posted:"There's no way Menard's is going to buy MTH. "
I think it's 99.9% likely that if a deal with Menard's were in the works, this announcement would never have taken place. It's likely going to be the existing employees carrying on in some fashion, or the deep blue sea, given the announcement that has been made. Any other potential purchaser would almost certainly have seen the announcement as damaging the value of the brand, in my opinion. We'll just have to wait and see how it plays out, but it's not looking promising unless some deal can be struck for the existing staff to continue the firm, and even that looks kind of shaky at present. You don't announce the closing of the business unless you mean it, or are trying to put pressure on someone(s).
Another factor that probably will affect a potential re-start of MTH is the amount of time that passes before a buyer steps in. The longer the delay, the more difficult (and therefore costly) it will be for a potential purchaser. Relationships with suppliers may have deteriorated, supply chains will evaporate, employees who were involved in all the steps required to plan products and coordinate production will no longer be in place, etc. etc. MTH as it's presently constituted will lose its value as a going concern.
Apparently MTH also had just opened its new plant for production of steam engines, and the first engines from this facility had just hit the market. If that factory has been disposed of, or is about to be, that would be another significant reduction in MTH's value, as well as a major impediment to any hopes of restarting production.
