Activist Shareholder Pressures Hudson’s Bay Co. on Real Estate

Taxis pass Saks flaship store on New York's Fifth Avenue, . Saks Inc. agreed to sell itself to Hudson's Bay Co., the Canadian parent of upscale retailer Lord & Taylor, for about $2.4 billion in a deal that will bring luxury to more North American localesSaks Acquisition, New York, USA

Saks Fifth Avenue's parent company, Hudson's Bay Co., is being pressured to get more value out of its real estate.

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The pressure is growing for Hudson's Bay Co. to raise shareholder value.With HBC's stock price sinking, Land & Buildings Investment Management LLC sent a public letter to HBC's board of directors to "evaluate all strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value." Land & Buildings holds 4.3 percent of Hudson's Bay shares.Land & Buildings also said a merger of Hudson's Bay with Neiman Marcus or Macy's — HBC has recently been in talks with both chains — would be "challenging and complicated." Land & Buildings noted that HBC's stock has declined nearly 25 percent since the deal talks surfaced.The shareholder also cited Hudson's Bay decision last week to cut 2,000 jobs and reorganize top management to save 350 million Canadian dollars annually.Land & Buildings added that unlike its peers, Hudson's Bay owns the vast majority of its real estate and said it is worth 35 Canadian dollars per share, compared with its current share price of 8.88 Canadian dollars. HBC owns the Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor flagships in Manhattan, among other properties.Sensing opportunity with an activist now pushing for changes, investors traded shares of the company up 13.7 percent to 10.10 Canadian dollars in early trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.