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Canada  + Ontario + Pacific Canada  + Retail  | 
Photo of entrance to a Hudson's Bay store.

Hudson’s Bay Company Landlords Oppose Most of Liu’s Proposed Lease Purchases

Hudson’s Bay Company landlords oppose the vast majority of B.C. billionaire mall owner Ruby Liu’s proposed lease acquisitions, new court filings show.

The landlords do not support Liu’s plan to acquire 23 leases of former Bay store spaces in malls located in B.C., Alberta and Ontario. She is seeking to acquire 28 leases altogether, including three covering former Bay stores in her Central Walk shopping centres in the Vancouver-area community of Tsawwassen, B.C., Victoria, B.C., and Nanaimo, B.C.

An Ontario court judge will rule separately on the leases concerning her three B.C. malls. That decision could come as early as Monday. Liu has agreed to pay a total of $6 million for them with each priced at $2 million.

The fate of the other 25 leases will be determined at a later date. Liu plans to launch a new chain of modern department stores through the leases.

Court-appointed case monitor Alvarez & Marsal reported the landlords’ opposition in an update on the Bay’s creditor-protection process. The court monitor says that the landlords “would not consent to the assignment of their leases to [Liu] and would oppose any potential future forced assignment.”

(The document indicates that the landlords could be required to accept the purchase offers in accordance with the Canadian Companies’ Arrangement Act.)

According to the monitor, Liu and her lawyers are working to provide the landlords with further details about her plans for the former stores.

Meanwhile, the court document sheds light on the overall lease-sale process and other aspects of the Bay’s restructuring effort.

Alvarez & Marsal said one unidentified prospective buyer is interested in acquiring up to eight leases in B.C, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario.

Alvarez & Marsal said the Bay is also close to striking a deal with a landlord seeking to purchase one of its own leases for less than $250,000. The monitor also said another potential deal fell through because the would-be unidentified buyer refused to correct a draft agreement and then backed out.

Meanwhile, the monitor said the Bay earned $349.3 million, more than expected, from merchandise sales as part of the iconic department-store chain’s liquidation effort.

All 96 Hudson’s Bay Company stores, including Saks-branded outlets closed June 1.

Photo: Shutterstock

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Inside The Story

Alvarez & MarsalGreg Hicks

About Monte Stewart

Monte Stewart serves as Content Director - Canada for Connect Commercial Real Estate. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Monte provides daily news coverage of major Canadian commercial real estate markets, including Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Calgary. He has written about the real estate sector for various media outlets and Avison Young since the early 2000s. In addition, he has covered sports, general news and business for several leading wire services and publications, including The Canadian Press, The Associated Press, The Calgary Herald, The Globe and Mail, Research Money, The Daily Oil Bulletin, Natural Gas World and The Toronto Star. Monte is active in his community as a youth basketball coach and raises funds for such charitable causes as Movember.

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