Report: Hudson's Bay's Bid for Macy's Stumbles

Hudson's Bay Company, owner of Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue, has yet to line up the money to mount a serious takeover bid for Macy's, reports say. In February, the Canada-based company was reportedly in talks to acquire Macy's, the largest department store chain in the U.S. A much smaller company and more deeply in debt, Toronto-based Hudson's Bay hasn't secured the financing it needs for an offer more than a month after soliciting Macy's interest in a deal. Macy's is skeptical Hudson's Bay will able to raise the money at all and has stopped talking with the rival retailer, news reports say, citing unnamed sources familiar with the negotiations.

Total Retail's Take: This latest news is probably a huge blow to both Hudson's Bay and Macy's. Hudson's Bay's majority owner and executive chairman, Richard Baker, has ambitions to build a huge retail empire on real estate financing as much as his knowledge of the retail sector. However, Hudson's Bay's existing equity partners, including Simon Property Group, have been reluctant to back Hudson's Bay's bid for Macy's, which would require it to invest more money in mall real estate, even as consumers continue to abandon them in favor of internet shopping. And it's a blow for Macy's, which has seen a series of suitors try to resuscitate it, to no avail. Several weeks ago Macy’s Inc. activist holder Starboard Value made a last-ditch effort to find other potential bidders for the chain and came up empty.