The respondents in this receivership are nine numbered companies and partnerships, and the parenthesis after each one is what it used to be called. 2455034 Ontario Limited Partnership, formerly RioCan-HBC Limited Partnership. 2491815 Ontario Limited Partnership, formerly HBC YSS 1 Limited Partnership. 2681842 Ontario Inc., formerly RioCan-HBC (Ottawa) GP, Inc. An order made on May 25, 2026 dealt with the legal and business names of the joint-venture entities, and the style of cause on the Receiver's seventh report is the result, per Seventh Report of FTI Consulting Canada Inc., July 17, 2026, cover and pp. 1–2 and Order (Re: Legal and Business Names of JV Entities), May 25, 2026.
The nominee structures underneath carry names of their own. Legal title to part of the Devonshire property was held by a company called Snospmis Limited — the word reads the same backwards as a retail banner does forwards — alongside Hudson's Bay Company as nominee for the rest, the beneficial owner throughout being the joint-venture partnership itself, per Seventh Report of the Receiver, July 17, 2026, paras. 20–21.
Three sold, one closing
The receivership was commenced by RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust and six affiliates under section 243(1) of the BIA and section 101 of the Courts of Justice Act, with FTI Consulting Canada Inc. appointed receiver and manager. Four shopping-centre interests were to be sold, and by the date of the seventh report three had closed: Devonshire on June 5, 2026, Ottawa on June 15, and Vancouver on June 24. Calgary was scheduled to close on or before July 27, per Seventh Report of the Receiver, July 17, 2026, paras. 10–11.
After that, the Receiver says, the only material assets left are the Calgary property, the net proceeds of the three completed sales, and one more real property in Montreal — currently being marketed, and mortgaged to the Royal Bank of Canada, per Seventh Report of the Receiver, July 17, 2026, para. 12.
What the malls fetched, and what was owed
The report sets the two columns side by side, and they do not meet.
| Property | Purchase price | Net proceeds |
|---|---|---|
| Vancouver | $112,500,000 | $111,266,000 |
| Ottawa | $21,500,000 | $21,092,000 |
| Devonshire | $4,500,000 | $4,307,000 |
Against those proceeds sit four secured claims, each stated as principal plus accrued interest: the Vancouver senior secured lender at $202,000,000 plus $10,169,000, for $212,169,000; the Calgary senior secured lender at $105,000,000 plus $8,089,000, for $113,089,000; the Ottawa senior secured lender at $43,531,000 plus $2,424,000, for $45,954,000; and the RioCan senior secured lender on the RBC loan at $58,732,000 plus $815,000, for $59,547,000, per Seventh Report of the Receiver, July 17, 2026, paras. 13, 17.
The Receiver's own summary of that arithmetic: each claim exceeds the net proceeds recoverable against it, "resulting in shortfalls ranging from an estimated 48% to 93% at present," per Seventh Report of the Receiver, July 17, 2026, para. 18.
The Devonshire claim is the one at the wrong end of that range, and its structure explains why a property that sold for $4,500,000 stands behind a lender owed $59,547,000. The Devonshire senior mortgage holder's claim does not arise from a loan to the property-owning entity at all: it arises under a guarantee indemnity agreement by which the joint-venture partnership indemnifies that mortgage holder, as assignee, for its indirect obligations under a credit facility owing from the former HBC YSS 1 Limited Partnership to RioCan Property Services Trust — itself an assignee of the Royal Bank of Canada, per Seventh Report of the Receiver, July 17, 2026, para. 16.
What is left to look for
Two possible sources of further recovery are identified, and both are described as too small to change the outcome.
The first is the JV Rent Charge — a charge granted by the court in Hudson's Bay's own CCAA proceedings, over the incremental rent HBC contractually owed the joint-venture entities above the reduced rent it had settled on a cash basis. The Receiver may realise on distributions from that charge in the HBC proceedings; the entity it would collect from is now styled 1242939 B.C. Unlimited Liability Company, having formerly been Hudson's Bay Company ULC. The Oakville and Georgian properties are excluded from the charge. The second source is miscellaneous utility, insurance and other refunds, per Seventh Report of the Receiver, July 17, 2026, para. 19 and n. 2.
Continue reading
The rest of this analysis is for subscribers. Every fact in it cites the filing it was read from.
Subscribe