Canadian Tire Corp. has expressed interest in purchasing Hudson鈥檚 Bay鈥檚 intellectual property, which may include its iconic stripes and logos, according to a source close to the beleaguered retailer鈥檚 restructuring plans.
The source told the Star that Canadian Tire, the stalwart retailer of automotive and home products, has submitted a bid in a sales process that is putting Hudson鈥檚 Bay鈥檚 leases, real estate and IP up for grabs. The deadline for bid submission was Wednesday.
The once-venerated Hudson鈥檚 Bay filed for creditor protection in early March and has since been granted permission to liquidate half-a-billion dollars worth of inventory in more than 80 stores across the country. The Star first reported on Wednesday that Weihong Liu, a British Columbia-based billionaire mall owner, has placed a bid on 25 Hudson鈥檚 Bay stores after publicly disclosing her intent on Chinese social media Rednote.
Multiple parties are participating in the bidding process and are primarily interested in the IP. Canadian Tire 鈥渟eemed quite excited鈥 about it, according to the source, who the Star is not naming because they are not authorized to speak about the bidding process.
- Estella Ren
In previous interviews, retail experts told the Star that there鈥檚 some value in the Hudson鈥檚 Bay鈥檚 iconic stripes, logo and name, and companies like Canadian Tire could develop their own product line under the Hudson鈥檚 Bay name for its stores.听
It’s unclear whether Canadian Tire is bidding for the retailer’s stores as well. Hudson鈥檚 Bay declined to comment,听and Canadian Tire did not respond to the Star鈥檚 request for comment听by the time of publication.
“We have received multiple bids and are evaluating them,” Adam Zalev, managing director at Bay financial adviser Reflect Advisors, told the Star on Thursday.
If a buyer is solely interested in Hudson鈥檚 Bay leases, the bid is due Thursday.
When asked Wednesday morning whether she had submitted a bid, Liu, an immigrant from China, said 鈥渕oney has already been paid.鈥 She also said she will hold a press conference in 10 days.
According to a court order allowing the sales of Hudson鈥檚 Bay assets, a 鈥渇inal qualified bid鈥 must include a refundable deposit of no less than 10 per cent of the purchase price, as well as written proof that financing has been committed for the purchase. Each bid must also include a proposal for how many Hudson鈥檚 Bay employees the bidder hopes to retain.
鈥淲e need to hire workers, recruit people and attract investment, so the time is tight to get the work done. (The landlords) will hand over the keys in June and charge me rent,” Liu told the Star in Mandarin over the phone.
In a video posted on April 3, Liu听whose company owns three shopping malls in B.C.,听spoke about her decision to make a bid for the retailer鈥檚 assets. 鈥淚 saw The Bay closing down, and I saw how sad Canadians were. It moved me deeply ... That ignited my fighting spirit.鈥
A Toronto-based investment firm Urbana Corp. has also made an offer for Hudson鈥檚 Bay assets, but the company鈥檚 bid is for intellectual property, not store locations.
Since the news of the financial woes facing Hudson鈥檚 Bay broke, Canadians have flooded stores, scrambling to snatch up anything bearing the Hudson鈥檚 Bay logo, mourning the loss of a Canadian company with a 355-year-old legacy.
Despite the better-than-expected sales in the liquidation process, the company decided it was 鈥渦nlikely鈥 to find a restructuring solution to save its business and put six stores that it was hoping to keep operational into liquidation last Friday.
Hudson’s Bay is clinging to the hope that a successful bid will come through the sales process, and reserves the right to withdraw some stores from liquidation sales.
If the retailer receives multiple offers for its stores and intellectual properties, it could hold an auction around May 16. Hudson鈥檚 Bay is required to return to court by May 30 for approval of the sales of its assets.
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