Jun. 28, 2025 "Hudson's Bay landlords don't want Ruby Liu to move in, but retailer still has a shot": Today I found this article by Tara Deschamps on CBC:
A group of Hudson's Bay's landlords doesn't want to transfer more than two dozen leases to B.C. billionaire Weihong (Ruby) Liu, but the department store still has a chance to get its way.
The Bay, which filed for creditor protection in March, ran a process over the last several months to find buyers for leases belonging to it and Saks Canada. It agreed to sell up to 28 spaces to Liu.
Three leases were transferred to her without any hiccups because they're in B.C. malls she owns,
but another 25 are at properties held by a who's who of Canadian commercial real estate firms.
Landlords for 23 of those sites oppose the transfer. Several have said in court they've been "very troubled" with their interactions with Liu and have had "no productive discussions, no meaningful disclosure."
Liu insists if the court hands her the leases, landlords will warm to her and her plan to open a new department store in their properties.
While the disagreement could serve as a roadblock to the Bay closing on its agreement with Liu, lawyers not involved in the case say the retailer has another route it can take to get a deal done.
That route lies in changes to the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) — Canada's main insolvency law — made in 2009, said Jeff Lee, a Saskatoon-based partner at MLT Aikins LLP.
The changes laid out three criteria courts must consider when asked to assign leases to a new tenant.
The first is whether or not the sale has the support of the monitor, a court-appointed, independent third party which helps guide businesses through creditor protection.
In the Bay's case, the monitor is Alvarez & Marsal. It has yet to reveal whether it supports the Liu deal and did not respond to requests for comment.
"Before any court application is brought forward, typically the company will test that out with them," Lee said. "They're not going to just sort of fly in blind and hope for the best."
The second aspect for the court to mull is whether the proposed new tenant is suitable.
Lee said that's determined by looking at whether they can perform the duties of the tenant and pay rent.
Liu, who made her money in Chinese real estate, appears to have deep pockets but her experience comes from being a landlord rather than a tenant.
The final aspect the court will consider is whether a transfer of a lease to Liu is "appropriate."
Lee said people should think of it as asking this question:
"Is what's proposed for this post-assignment lease relationship what people signed up for,
or are they seeking to rewrite the lease
or change the playing field so radically that it's not appropriate?"
That's where much of the tension could lie in the Bay case.
"You can't go into CCAA as a tenant and then force your landlords to renegotiate their leases as a result," said Peter Tolensky, a Vancouver-based partner at Lawson Lundell LLP.
The Canadian Press obtained a document last week that Liu's lawyer sent landlords outlining her plans. It says she will take on the leases on an "as is, where is" basis but doesn't mention the dining, entertainment, children's and fitness experiences she's told media she'd like to include in her department stores.
It's unclear whether the leases allow for uses other than a Bay-like department store.
Some lenders owed more than $100M
A court faced with a request to reassign leases will weigh this context and think about whether "the landlord's world is being turned upside down by having this new tenant," said Geoffrey Dabbs, a B.C.-based founding partner at Gehlen Dabbs Cash.
"The more it's a minor inconvenience for the landlord, the more likely the judge will order it," he said.
While the Bay hasn't said whether it will seek an assignment, it's likely because any company in creditor protection has a duty to show the court it's doing its best to pay back companies and people it owes money to, Dabbs said.
The Bay has a 26-page list of creditors, with some lenders owed more than $100 million each.
Liquidation sales and a deal to sell the Bay trademarks to Canadian Tire for $30 million have put a dent in what's owed
but selling leases to Liu would also help.
Anyone who made an offer for leases had to make a deposit of 10 per cent of their estimated purchase price. Court documents show Liu made a deposit of $9.4 million, in addition to $6 million for the three approved leases, which would equate to a purchase price of $100 million for 28 leases.
When a deal like this is reached, Dabbs said a company typically seeks landlord consent because commercial leases tend to have provisions stopping anyone from transferring a lease without a property owner agreeing.
It's not uncommon for landlords to object because
any leases that can't be sold
and aren't assigned
get turned back over to property owners who can choose how to fill them and under what terms.
These are anchor leases, Tolensky noted.
"So they're probably very favourable to the Bay or to the tenant in a lot of respects," Tolensky said, alluding to the fact that anchor tenants are often given attractive rents or terms.
Thus, it's more advantageous for landlords to get their properties back, said Monica Beffa, founder of an Oakville, Ont., law firm.
If they do,
they can then charge higher rents,
develop them for entirely new uses such as
residential units
or break them up into smaller parcels
that can be rented by a wide array of tenants.
If they don't and a court assigns the leases to Liu, landlords will likely be watching her closely to ensure she doesn't violate any terms of the agreement.
Dabbs said: "The landlord may be cranky, if the tenant breaches, but put it this way, they don't want to rely on that.
"If they don't want this lease being assigned, they will fight it right up front."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ruby-liu-hudsons-bay-leases-1.7573682
Jul. 7, 2025 "Ruby Liu wants to get young people back in malls — and hopes to use Hudson's Bay sites to do it": Today I found this article on CBC:
B.C. billionaire Ruby Liu has big plans as she moves to take over up to 28 former Hudson's Bay retail locations across Canada, pledging to share the pie with skeptical landlords and aiming to bring youngsters back to stores.
Liu has emerged as the leading candidate to step into the space vacated by Hudson's Bay, which went bust after seeking creditor protection in March. The company agreed to sell her up to 28 leases as part of the winding-down process.
She has already taken over three leases, having paid around $6 million for the leases at malls she owns. The remaining 25 leases are in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario properties she doesn't own.
The Bay has yet to seek court approval for the arrangement, but landlords for the spaces are overwhelmingly opposed to her moving in.
The landlords told judges they've not had productive discussions with the billionaire, who made her fortune over decades in China's retail world.
In a wide-ranging interview with Gloria Macarenko, guest host of CBC's The Early Edition, Liu revealed her plans for the department stores and her thoughts on the future of retail.
Linda Qin, who is CEO of Liu's Central Walk company, translated for Liu, who spoke Mandarin during the interview that airs on Monday. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Ruby, you know about the long history of these department stores here in Canada, but these locations have large footprints. What is your vision?
Right now, we are encountering an e-commerce era, so the internet plays a very key and important role in our daily life.
Therefore, we want to drag young people from
the internet into reality,
and from online to offline.
We'll support getting the young generation [Gen Z] back into shopping malls
and we'll innovate to attract them.
I wrote a letter to the prime minister a few days ago, requesting a chance to meet with [him] in person, to talk about how to improve the competitiveness for the country and how to provide benefits.
What exactly will be different? What will be new and different in these new places?
The immersive shopping experience is very important.
Look at the Asian countries like Japan, like Thailand. They have all events — not only inside, [but] outside of the shopping malls.
They're good at organizing all kinds of events to attract visitors and shoppers, so we should learn from it.
Shopping centres ... should host more small- to mid-scale activities and events. They should be playing a more important role in hosting community events and activities.
I understand that you are already in the process of hiring for these stores and working with suppliers. What's your timeline ... at these three B.C. malls?
Our target and mandate is to hire 70 per cent of the former [Hudson's Bay] managers and employees.
I have a three-tier plan for the store openings.
For the first tier, the normal stores, I'm planning to open them in three months.
For the [second tier] stores, we will do more renovation and provide a more immersive shopping experience to shoppers ... it will be about six to eight months before they open.
For the third tier ... we have more innovative ideas, high technology, maybe some [virtual reality] and some exciting new shopping elements coming into the stores.
And we'll have fine dining, we'll have entertainment, we'll have a kids' play area. However, everything will be decided under the condition of getting the landlords' approval and support.
What makes you confident that your approach will be successful?
If I need to spend half million on something — whether it's on projects or renovations or anything — I understand that for other big companies the cost will be three times more.
So from the cost-effectiveness point of view, I'm very confident.
Canada, right now, needs the spirit of working hard, cutting budgets and [saving] costs.
I'm going to lead a group of younger generations and immigrants to produce and plan premium, joyful department stores.
There has been some pushback from a lot of the landlords that you're negotiating with over this. They're saying they haven't seen a solid retail plan and that there's actually a lack of retail experience. What do you say to them?
At this point, I cannot disclose as much as ... they expected.
But for next steps, we will [have] negotiations and discussions with landlords.
With their support and approval, we will have better, detailed, business plans.
When the cake is bigger, we're going to cut half, and we're going to share it with our landlords.
With files from Gloria Macarenko and The Early Edition
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ruby-liu-hudsons-bay-leases-1.7578237
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