Chicago Business Litigation Lawyer Blog
Hudson’s Bay (HBC), the Canadian retail company that owns Saks, among other high-end stores, has been sued by lenders who claim the reorganization of the company that happened earlier this year was conducted in an attempt to set up a secret corporate shell game that has robbed the credit that exists as insurance on the $850 million loan the plaintiffs have invested in the company.
The lawsuit centers around the fact that, as the owner of stores like Saks and Lord & Taylor, HBC was responsible for guaranteeing payment on all loans for the stores, including making sure the rent was paid if the stores themselves were in financial distress or unable to make rent for any other reason.
Earlier this year, HBC formed a new Bermuda corporation, which is owned by shareholders with a controlling interest in HBC, as well as executives at the highest levels of HBC’s corporate hierarchy. According to the plaintiff, Situs Holdings, this transfer of assets is not only improper but also violates the loan agreement and puts at risk the company’s ability to repay the loan.
HBC denies all the allegations, claiming the restructuring amounted to little more than a change in name and some paper shuffling. It also alleges that Situs never had any claim on the assets of HBC that were reassigned in the course of the restructuring process. The Canadian retail company insists that Situs’s reaction to the restructuring is far beyond what the restructuring actually accomplishes and that the plaintiff’s claims that HBC allegedly conducted this restructuring in secret, deliberately keeping it concealed from Situs, are likewise false. Continue reading ›