Thomson, Weston families win Hudson’s Bay charter auction: retailer

Hudson’s Bay Co. has chosen the new owners of the royal charter that created the company more than 350 years ago.

The Thomson and Weston families emerged with an uncontested $18 million bid for the 1670 document, through their holding companies, and will donate it to a group of four museums.

The purchase is subject to court approval as part of the Hudson’s Bay insolvency proceedings.

The announcement confirms reporting from The Canadian Press, which previously revealed no one came forward to bid against the Thomsons and Westons in the Dec. 3 sale hosted by the shuttered retailer and its financial adviser Reflect Advisors.

When the deal closes, the families plan to donate the charter immediately and permanently to the Archives of Manitoba, the Manitoba Museum, the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., and the Royal Ontario Museum.

They will donate another $5 million to support the charter’s preservation and help maintain public access to the document. Future support has also been promised by the Desmarais family and Power Corp. of Canada, along with the Hennick Family Foundation.

The charter is among the country’s most significant artifacts because it was King Charles II’s way of granting HBC control over one-third of modern Canada and laying the groundwork for mass colonialism.

It’s likely no one else made a play for the charter because the Thomsons and Westons are two of the country’s richest and most powerful families, making them difficult to face off against.

The Thomsons made their fortune in the media business and once owned a controlling stake in HBC. The Westons are known for their ties to grocery giant Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and department store Holt Renfrew.

Thomas Caldwell, the head of investment firm Urbana Corp. and a former governor of the Toronto Stock Exchange, once mulled placing a bid for the charter but decided not to participate when the families started making offers.

“I like to joke that my patriotism wanes when we get into double-digit millions,” he told The Canadian Press in a late November email.

“The goal was to have the charter remain in Canadian hands in a museum here. Given the Westons and Thomsons are co-operating to do just that, then the goal is achieved.”

It took the families months to unite and offer a joint bid for the charter, which HBC is selling to put a dent in the more than $1 billion it owed when it filed for creditor protection and closed all its stores earlier this year.

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Originally, HBC planned to have Heffel Fine Art Auction House sell the charter but changed its mind in July, when the Westons offered $12.5 million for it through their holding company, Wittington Investments Ltd. They wanted to donate the charter to the Canadian Museum of History, a Crown corporation.

HBC was readying to call off the auction and accept the Westons’ offer until David Thomson’s firm DKRT Family Corp. came forward.

DKRT said it had been sitting on the sidelines awaiting an auction it thought should take place. If HBC reverted to its original plan, DKRT would start the bidding at $15 million and if it won, hand the charter to the Archives of Manitoba.

HBC decided to go along with that plan and booked a court hearing to get permission to execute it. When an unsolicited offer from a mystery bidder emerged just before the court date, it instead called off the hearing.

Later, that bid was revealed to be the joint Thomson-Weston offer, which HBC decided to use as a starting auction price.

When no one decided to square off against the families, they became the de facto winners.