- Huw Hughes
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|
Hudson’s Bay Company’s (HBC) shareholders have voted overwhelmingly in
favour of a plan to take the Canadian retailer private.
In a special meeting held on Thursday, shareholders voted with a 98.28
percent majority in favour of the plan, comfortably surpassing the required
favourable vote of at least 75 percent. The resolution also required
approval by a “majority of the minority” shareholders – it received 94.46
percent of their votes.
The move means HBC will become a private company owned by a group of
continuing shareholders led by Richard Baker, governor and executive
chairman of HBC. The company’s other shareholders will receive 11 dollars
per share in cash.
The arrangement is expected to be completed on or around 3 March.
“Our reason for wanting to be private was so that we can focus our time
and energy and dollars on re-investing in the business,” Baker told
Reuters. “We will be able to use our dollars to re-invest online and
re-invest in product and in sales teams and in our stores, and I think that
will put us in a better position to grow our business.”
As part of its turnaround strategy, the retailer sold luxury department
store chain Lord + Taylor to fashion rental subscription service Le Tote in
a 100 million dollar deal in November and in September confirmed it would
be completely exiting the Netherlands.
Photo credit: Hudson’s Bay, Amsterdam. Credits: Steven Lek,
Wikipedia Commons
