Judge rejects Hudson's Bay agreement that would have given deadline to save stores

TORONTO - An Ontario judge has rejected a proposed Hudson’s Bay restructuring agreement that would have given the retailer more runway to save the six stores not being liquidated, even as the retailer’s creditors are circling closer. In his decision, Ontario Superior Court judge Peter Osborne writes that the proposal is neither necessary nor appropriate. The agreement would not only have given the embattled department store a deadline to rescue its remaining stores but imposed a budget it would have regularly had to report to lenders Bank of America, Restore Capital and Pathlight Capital.

Osborne says he was reluctant to approve the agreement in part because the budget wasn’t submitted to the court or other stakeholders to review. He says the monitor appointed by the court to help guide Hudson’s Bay through its creditor protection proceedings is sufficient to balance the lenders’ rights with those of other stakeholders rather the agreement put forward. Lenders arguing in favour of the agreement saw it as a way to hold them off from filing for receivership, a process where a failing business has its assets seized so they can be sold to repay creditors.



This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 29, 2025..