TORONTO — Hudson's Bay landlords were back in court Friday, where they argued a B.C. billionaire doesn't have the cash needed to launch a new retailer.
Ruby Liu wants to buy 25 Bay leases for $69.1 million to open a new department store named after herself. Court has already approved a separate purchase of three Bay leases in malls she owns for a total $6 million.
However, prominent landlords, including Cadillac Fairview, Oxford Propeties and Ivanhoé Cambridge, vehemently oppose the larger sale and for a second day in a row were in court Friday asking a judge not to force them to accept Liu as a tenant.
The landlords say they shouldn't have to let Liu move in because she has neither the experience nor the team needed to launch a new venture of the scale she desires. They also say her budget to renovate and open some of the stores within six months is unrealistic.
They opened their Friday submissions attacking the $400 million she says she will spend on the new chain she wants to name after herself.
The problem, said a lawyer for Bay landlord KingSett Capital, is that "Ms. Liu does not have $400 million or anywhere close to $400 million."
That money is "non-existent," Matthew Gottlieb said. “We say the alleged financial commitment is no commitment at all. It is just window dressing. It is not actionable, it is not enforceable.”
He reached that conclusion because Liu won't personally guarantee that $400 million and much of her remaining money is tied up in international companies that haven't signed binding commitments to back her new venture.
The company Liu wants to use to buy the Bay is wholly-owned by Techion Global Investments Ltd., which is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, according to court documents filed by Gottleib's firm.
She also co-owns Barbados-based Central Walk (Barbados) Company Ltd. her brother. Gottleib told the court those funds are all held in Hong Kong and Singapore, not Canada. Liu confirmed this during earlier proceedings that were not open to the public, according to the same documents.
“There are not funds in a Canadian bank for $400 million or anything close," he argued.
Liu has said not only does she have money but also she has three B.C. malls that can be a source of funding.
Liu has a 70 per cent stake in Woodgrove Centre in Nanaimo and Mayfair Shopping Centre in Victoria and a 30 per cent stake in Tsawwassen Mills in Delta, KingSett said. Her brother owns the other 30 per cent in the first two malls and her sister owns the remaining 70 per cent interest in Tsawwassen Mills in a trust for Liu and her brother.
Gottlieb argues none of the malls can be counted on for cash because they collectively lost about $19 million in 2023 and 2024.
If her other companies had collected interest on loans they made to the malls, Gottlieb said the shopping centres would be insolvent.
While he mentioned Liu has told the landlords she has a bid to buy Mayfair, Gottlieb said she refused to produce a copy of it.
Even if Liu is able to sell Mayfair for $232 million, KingSett said she first has to repay the $141.9 million mortgage on the property and the $90 million net proceeds are insufficient to cover debts.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2025.
Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press
