17 bids received by deadline for Hudson's Bay properties and assets | Daily Hive

Hudson's Bay at CF Toronto Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto. (Kenneth Chan)

The process for liquidating the assets of Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) is progressing quickly, with 17 bids submitted ahead of the deadline.

According to a new court filing on Friday by Alvarez & Marsal — the court-appointed monitor overseeing HBC’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) proceedings — 12 parties submitted qualified bids covering a combined total of 29 individual leases. Several of these leases received multiple bids, with overlapping interests in the same locations.

However, the majority of HBC’s portfolio — 62 properties — did not receive any qualified bids.

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The monitor did not disclose the identities of the interested parties or the specific locations that received bids, but noted that it did not receive any “insider bids” for any of the assets.

Furthermore, Alvarez & Marsal indicated that it began this multi-stage process in March 2025 by reaching out to 407 potentially interested parties.

In a previous filing by the monitor about three weeks ago, it was noted that 18 entities had submitted a non-binding letter of interest — including certain landlords — expressing interest in a total of 65 individual property leases held by Hudson’s Bay. Among the few that have publicly shared their interest in snapping up a number of properties is B.C. billionaire Weihong Liu, who owns Tsawwassen Mills in Delta, Mayfair Shopping Centre in Victoria, and Woodgrove Centre in Nanaimo, which her company, Central Walk, recently listed for sale.

The deadline to submit a binding bid for the leases was May 1, including a deposit equal to 10 per cent of the proposed purchase price.

Hudson’s Bay’s department store locations are expected to close by June 2025, following a liquidation process that began in late March 2025. In April 2025, a decision was made to close the remaining six stores previously spared from liquidation.

As of last week, about 90 per cent of the inventory at Hudson’s Bay’s four distribution centres across Canada — one location in Metro Vancouver, and three in Greater Toronto — has been transported to stores to be disposed of in the liquidation sale. The remaining inventory will be delivered to the stores by about May 16.

It is indicated that nine of the Saks OFF 5th stores closed in late April 2025, and the remaining four locations of the discount brand are expected to close no later than June 1.

The liquidation sale at 74 Hudson’s Bay department stores and three Saks Fifth Avenue department stores is expected to continue until June 1, at which point the stores will close, and the furniture, fixtures, and equipment removal period will take place for about one to two weeks.

The monitor notes that the retailer is seeking court approval for an extension of the CCAA’s protection period to the end of July 2025 to enable the bids for the leases and other assets — including art, historical artefacts, and intellectual properties, such as the chain’s iconic branding — to be reviewed and considered. Multiple bids for the same property could end up in an auction, and a separate auction process will be held for the collection of art and artifacts.

The 354-year-old company possesses a collection of over 1,700 pieces of art and 2,700 artifacts, including the highly coveted English Royal Charter of 1670, issued by King Charles II, that incorporated the Hudson’s Bay Company as a fur trading giant in the Rupert’s Land, an area now known as Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Nunavut. The founding charter is considered a document of profound national importance.

However, the most recent filing notes that many of the artifacts were donated to the Archives of Manitoba in 1993. In 2020, the charter was on display to the public for the very first time at the Manitoba Museum in Winnipeg.

“While this process continues, the Company, Reflect, and the Monitor have engaged in many discussions with various parties that have expressed an interest in the Art Collection, including governmental entities, not-for-profit organizations, First Nations and other indigenous groups. Certain parties have been provided with access to view certain [parts] of the Art Collection,” reads the filing.

“Further, on May 8, 2025, counsel to the Applicants sent a letter to all parties that have expressed interest in the Art Collection and a number of additional government agencies informing them of the virtual database cataloguing the items in that collection and informing them that the catalogue can be viewed upon execution of a non-disclosure agreement. The Applicants, Reflect and the Monitor are also working proactively with interested parties to identify any other groups that may have an interest in the Art Collection.”

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