Hudson’s Bay will head back to court Thursday morning to seek approval to compel the transfer of its 25 leases to B.C. billionaire and mall owner Weihong ‘Ruby’ Liu.
Liu’s bid is set for a final showdown, facing fierce opposition from the now-defunct retailer’s landlords and the court-appointed monitor, alongside a countermotion from Hudson’s Bay’s senior creditor, Restore, seeking to terminate the lease-transfer transaction.
“I believe I will win,” Liu told the Star on Tuesday, speaking in Mandarin. “I also trust that the judge will rule according to the law, and I have confidence that Canada is a country governed by the rule of law.”
Over the course of a month of submissions, testimony and cross-examinations, landlords of 24 out of 25 leases have lashed out at her newly formed Ruby Liu Commercial Investment, created specifically for the bid, calling it “a startup organization” with no retail track record.
They also dismissed her business plan to launch a department-store chain across three provinces as unrealistic, warning it “will be insolvent in the near term.”
The only reason Hudson’s Bay backed Liu’s $69-million bid, the landlords argued in a joint factum, is to benefit its most senior lender, Pathlight Capital, which is owed $68 million.
The court-appointed monitor, Alvarez & Marsal, overseeing the proceedings, also dissented, concluding in its report that while Liu’s company could “meet the financial obligations” under the leases, it might fall short on non-monetary commitments.
Liu and her lawyers rebutted all objections, arguing in a court document that the landlords were never prepared to consider her as a tenant and “see an opportunity to reclaim the premises for their own purposes.”
This is a developing story …
