Hudson’s Bay has received 17 bids in the sales process in which its leases, intellectual property and real estate are up for grabs, according to a court document filed on Friday.
In a separate sales process for leases only, the beleaguered retailer, which has launched a liquidation of its entire business, also received 12 “qualified” bids on a total of 39 individual leases, said the court-appointed monitor overseeing the creditor protection proceedings of Hudson’s Bay in the document.
However, no qualified bids were received for 62 leases, which means Hudson鈥檚 Bay may need to abandon some of these properties and face charges from landlords for breaking the lease agreements.
The company, which filed for creditor protection on March 7, expects liquidation sales to continue until June 1, while clinging to the hope that it can find a last-minute buyer or investors to save any of its business through the sales process. Cash from the sale of leases, trademarks and intellectual property, such as the iconic stripes, will be used to repay over $1 billion in debt from more than 1,000 creditors.
The 17 bids were submitted through a court-supervised process called the Sales and Investment Solicitation Process (SISP), which aims to help the company find buyers or investors who could keep parts of Hudson鈥檚 Bay running and preserve the brand.
Hudson鈥檚 Bay has confirmed there are no insiders 鈥 managers or third-parties with inside knowledge of the company 鈥 bidding on its leases or in the SISP process.
The retailer will return to court later this month to provide information on any winning bids, and seek court approval for the sale of its assets.
Three businesses have been identified as potential buyers of Hudson鈥檚 Bay assets. According to a source who is close to the restructuring plan, Canadian Tire is bidding on Hudson’s Bay’s intellectual property, but the company has not confirmed this publicly. Weihong Liu, a B.C. billionaire and owner of several shopping centres, told the Star she has submitted a bid for 25 Hudson鈥檚 Bay鈥檚 stores. A Toronto-based investment firm, Urbana Corp., has also gone public with its intent to bid on the intellectual property.聽
The retailer鈥檚 extensive collection of 1,700 pieces of art and more than 2,700 artifacts, including the 1670 charter document that paved the way for the company鈥檚 founding, will be sold at an auction organized by Heffel Gallery Limited.
“The Monitor intends to continue to engage in discussions with interested stakeholders and appreciates that the potential of Hudson鈥檚 Bay holding items of historical and cultural significance has generated broad interest,” Friday’s court document says.
The plan to auction off these historic artifacts has drawn criticism from Indigenous communities and governments, who fear the items could end up in the hands of private buyers. In response to their demands, Hudson鈥檚 Bay has created a ‘comprehensive’ digital catalogue of the art collection and allowed interested parties to view it under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), the court document read.
The latest report on Friday also shed light on Hudson鈥檚 Bay鈥檚 efforts to secure bids in the SISP, which includes sending a 鈥渢easer Letter鈥 with a draft of the NDA to 407 parties who may be interested in buying some Hudson鈥檚 Bay assets or investing in the business.
Fifty-four parties signed the NDA and were provided with the confidential information memorandum that describes the business and assets available for sale in the SISP.
Hudson’s Bay will return to court next Tuesday to seek permission to pay back more than a $150 million to some of its senior lenders.
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