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 and trademarks like “Bay Days” and the Zellers catchphrase “lowest price is the law.”
Canadian Tire beat out a dozen other bidders who wanted the Bay’s intellectual property.
The court approval 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.
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.
Hudson’s Bay will eventually return to court to seek approval for B.C. mall owner Ruby Liu to take over up to 28 Bay leases to develop a new department store. That deal, which was announced last week, needs the support of landlords.
source & photo: City News
