After months of court deliberations and intense public scrutiny from Canada’s largest commercial real estate landlords, creditors, the court-appointed monitor, industry experts, and the media, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has rejected a proposal from the now-skeletal remnant entity of Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) to assign 25 department store leases across the country to B.C.-based businesswoman Ruby (Weihong) Liu for the creation of a new Canadian department store chain .

Justice Peter Osborne announced his decision on Friday not to sell the leases to Liu as a major part of the ongoing dissolution process of the historic retailer’s assets under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), and the written ruling was published online on Monday. The judge’s decision was based

See Full Page