Retail Merger
Two of North America’s oldest department stores will now become one. NRDC Equity Partners, which owns Lord & Taylor, has acquired the Hudson’s Bay Co., Canada’s oldest retailer. Rumors about a possible HBC sale had been circulating since April, following the death of South Carolina magnate Jerry Zucker, who bought HBC in 2006 for $1.1 billion. None of HBC’s 600 stores—which operate under the nameplates of The Bay, Zellers, Home Outfitters and Fields—will be closed. Lord & Taylor plans to open 15 to 16 new stores throughout Canada in the near future. Richard Baker, principal of NRDC in Purchase, N.Y., will become chief executive of a new corporate holding company called Hudson’s Bay Trading Co. It will combine HBC’s holdings with NRDC’s properties, including the retail chain Fortunoff and the apparel-design company Creative Design Studios.
