Court approves sale of Hudson's Bay trademarks to Canadian Tire

Hamilton Spectator

2 days ago

TORONTO - Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd.'s historic purchase of Hudson's Bay trademarks will go ahead after an Ontario judge granted permission for the deal.
Judge Peter Osborne says the $30-million deal was the best possible outcome given the circumstances facing the Bay.
The deal will give Canadian Tire rights to the Bay name, its coat of arms and its iconic stripes.
Court documents have also shown the deal includes the Bay's Distinctly Home brand, its Hudson North apparel line, trademarks like 'Bay Days' and the Zellers catchphrase 'lowest price is the law' as well as a contract with Pendleton Woolen Mills, an Oregon-based blanket and clothing maker.
The sale to Canadian Tire was the buzziest matter Osborne presided over Tuesday. At the same court hearing, he also approved a receivership application for a joint real estate venture Hudson's Bay was part of and made a declaration helping employees receive funding to recover from the collapse of their employer.
The approvals came months after Canada's oldest company filed for creditor protection and days after it closed all 96 of the stores it ran under its Bay and Saks banners on Sunday.
Osborne called the weekend closures 'a milestone, albeit an unhappy one' that amounts to 'the end of an era.'
Hudson's Bay has said the sale and closures were necessary because the 355-year-old company was not able to attract an investor to keep some semblance of the current business alive.
Canadian Tire, which also owns SportChek, Party City, Mark's and Pro Hockey Life, wound up being the winner of the Bay's trademarks after the ailing company and its advisers invited 407 people and firms to bid on the intellectual property and other assets.
Ashley Taylor, a lawyer for Hudson's Bay, told Osborne that 17 bids were received. Thirteen were for intellectual property but Canadian Tire's was superior, he said.
'The Canadian Tire transaction represents the highest and best process offer resulting from a competitive process,' Taylor said.
What precisely gave Canadian Tire the edge is contained in a document Taylor has asked the court to seal because it contains commercially sensitive information, including the amounts offered by the next highest bidders.
Osborne granted the request.
The Canadian Tire deal is the first of several Taylor is expected to ask a court to approve.
He said Hudson's Bay will eventually return to court to get approval for B.C. mall owner Ruby Liu to take over up to 28 Bay leases to develop a new department store. That deal needs the support of landlords.
He also teased that two other deals concerning some of the other properties the Bay used will be announced soon.
The Canadian Tire deal was being discussed at a hearing that spanned several issues, including a joint real estate venture the Bay has with RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust.
The venture has leases for 12 properties the department store used, but RioCan wanted to put the partnership into receivership to protect its stakeholders and maximize the value it can recover.
Receivership is a process allowing a third-party to take control of a company's assets, oversee their liquidation and repay creditors.
Joseph Pasquariello, a lawyer for RioCan, wanted FTI Consulting Canada appointed as the receiver because his client's 'dollars are on the line' and it wants timely solutions.
Osborne approved Pasquariello's request, saying it was 'just and convenient.'
Osborne also recognized Hudson's Bay as the former employer of all the department store's workers who have been terminated.
The declaration allows Bay's 9,364 staff, including more than 8,300 who have already lost their jobs, to recoup money they may be owed from the retailer under the Wage Earner Protection Program Act.
People who qualify under the federal program can earn up to $8,844.22 this year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 3, 2025.
Companies in this story: (TSX:CTC.A, TSX:REI-UN)