US retailer Lord & Taylor merges with Canada's Hudson's Bay

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

OTTAWA (AFP) — The parent of US retailer Lord & Taylor on Wednesday bought Canada's premiere Hudson's Bay chain for an undisclosed sum, merging two of North America's oldest department store chains.

The deal creates a merchandising titan with 75,000 employees, 5.1 million square meters (55 million square feet) of stores in the United States and Canada, and eight billion US dollars in sales annually for the new owner NRDC Equity Partners of Purchase, New York.

The merger offers "an unprecedented opportunity to recreate the retail landscape in North America," said NRDC's Richard Baker, who will serve as chief executive of the newly consolidated Hudson's Bay Trading Company and become the 38th governor of the Hudson's Bay Company.

"Enormous potential exists by...