Ruby Liu Receives Bad News about The Bay

Billionaire mall owner Ruby Liu has lost her fight to take over Hudson’s Bay Company’s (HBC) store leases.

On Oct. 24, the Ontario Superior Court ruled that landlords of the defunct iconic retailer cannot be forced to accept Liu as a tenant.

The decision prevents Liu from proceeding to transform 25 shuttered HBC sites into a chain of department stores under her own name in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, at least for the time being.

Liu can appeal the decision, though she has not announced plans to do so.

Months in the making, the judge’s decision cited significant concerns that the Chinese-Canadian property magnate would be able to fulfill the obligations outlined under the leases.

In May, Liu bid to acquire 28 leases, at which time HBC announced it was willing to sell them to her.

She won court approval to obtain three leases at former HBC store spaces in malls she owns in the Vancouver area; Victoria, and Nanaimo, B.C., for $6 million.

The remaining 25 were to be purchased for some $69.1 million.

Landlords including Cadillac Fairview Corp. Ltd., Ivanhoé Cambridge and Oxford Properties objected, saying that Liu’s plans for the properties “defies commercial common sense.”