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Toronto – A judge in Ontario rejected the Hudson Bay restructuring agreement on Saturday evening, which increased the possibility that lenders seek to push the company to the judicial guard.
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In a written decision issued on Saturday, the Supreme Court Judge of Ontario Peter Osborne said he refused to agree to the agreement because “it is neither necessary nor appropriate at this time.”
The agreement will not have just granted the besieged store on the deadline to save its remaining stores, but it would have handed over the energy increase on the company's protection process to the senior lenders guaranteed in the retail seller – Bank of America, and the restoration of capital and capital.
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The agreement would have imposed a weekly budget on the business that Hudson Bay regularly had to submit to lenders – companies whose loans are supported by guarantee, allowing them to seize the assets of the retailer to cover unpaid debt.
If Bay Hudson's Bay reaches a company deal with a new buyer, the agreement also requires the approval of the lenders.
Osborne said that it was “hesitant” in the partial approval of the agreement because the budget has not been submitted to the court or the other stakeholders for review and the lenders will give rights and protection “to exclude other stakeholders.”
He also said that the monitoring by the court to help direct the Gulf of Hudson through the procedures for protecting its creditors is sufficient to balance the rights of lenders with the rights of other stakeholders.
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The decision of Osborne, the last teacher, coincides with the procedures for protecting creditors that swept the oldest company in Canada since it admitted on March 7 that its financial difficulties were very large, as it was postponing payments to owners and suppliers.
As part of these procedures, Hudson Bay started liquidating this week with the exception of six out of 80 Hudson Bay, and 13 Sachs off the fifth and three stores Sax Fifth Avenue. The six that has been rescued so far is divided between the Greater Toronto regions and the major regions of Montreal. The company also negotiated a room to add or remove more stores from the filter.
The restructuring agreement was risky because some saw that it was one of the only things that hinder Hudson's bay lenders from the court's demand for retail in the judicial guard.
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Guarding is a process in which a third party is granted control of the company's assets to pay creditors.
Lawyers who represent Hudson Bay and the senior lenders guaranteed had no comments on Usborn's support on Saturday.
Many lenders argued in favor of the court in court last week.
“We do not want to fight. We do not want to submit a judicial guard application,” said Link Rogers, a Bay Lander Restore Capital, Link Roggers, on Thursday.
“We look at this court and say that there is a better way forward.”
However, real estate owners such as Evanho Cambridge, Oxford Prubrities, Kushman Wikfield, Morgard, Riokane Real Estate Investment and Kingstt Capital have argued that the best path was not approved by the agreement.
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They preferred that the company relies on another process that is already operating, which will witness Hudson Bay's entertainment bids from potential buyers for its entire company or assets.
David Bish, Cadillac Vervio's lawyer, who owns 16 properties owned by Hudson Bay, Administrative stores in the fact that accepting the restructuring agreement will impede any way of retail stores by setting effective control of the company's future in the hands of the lender.
“They are not incentive to restructure. They are motivated to liquidate,” and Bish was accused in court on Thursday.
Rogers, who represents the recovery of the lender, did not agree.
“We are asking for protection,” he said. We are not asking for a reward. “
At some point, he even offered the amendment of the agreement to grant Hudson Bay a few additional weeks to avoid the liquidation of the six stores, saying that his client was “ready to take an additional danger” to publish this situation.
“We are not looking to choose the battles,” he said. “We are looking to solve issues.”
For its part, Hudson's Gulf argued in favor of the court to agree to the agreement, but her lawyer said that the type of arrangement allowed his client was not.
Ashley Taylor said: “The agreement was lacking in time, and the number of stores and the lines of the height he was preferred,” said Ashley Taylor.
“It was not a very satisfactory result,” he told the court on Wednesday.
This report issued by the Canadian press was published for the first time on March 30, 2025.
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