A Canadian flag flies on the car of a customer's car parked in front of a Target store in in Guelph, Ont. on March 5, 2013.Dave Chidley/The Canadian Press
Insolvent Target Canada owes billions of dollars to a long list of companies – big and small – including such familiar names as Procter & Gamble, Mattel and Nestle.
And it owes Canada Revenue Agency more than $12-million and various amounts to various provincial and municipal governments.
The list of creditors was posted online on Wednesday on the website of Alvarez & Marsal Canada, the monitor overseeing Target Canada's court proceedings. Last Thursday, Target said it will close all 133 of its Canadian stores by May and let go 17,600 employees, just two years after its arrival in Canada.
Target Canada received court protection from its creditors after revealing it had sunk $7-billion into its operations here but couldn't see a quick path to profit. The chain's U.S. parent Target Corp. was no longer willing to pour money into its Canadian division, whose research found that it wouldn't break even for at least another five years, according to court filings.
Much of Target Canada's amounts owing are in the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars per creditor, but some are noticeably larger. Target owes more than $4.2-million to Warner Bros. Entertainment Group, almost $2.2-million to Universal Studios Canada Inc. and more than $3-million to grocer Sobeys, which supplied food to the U.S.-based chain.
Target Canada owes Hasbro Canada Corp. $3.6-million; and Kimberly-Clark Inc. more than $1.2-million. And it owes Starbucks Coffee Canada Inc., which ran cafes in Target stores, $1.9-million.
The Canadian chain also owes Nicollet Enterprise – its parent company – $3.1-billion but will subordinate the loan facility to other unsecured creditors, the filing says. It means other unsecured creditors will get priority in getting repaid over Nicollet.
As well, the retailer is setting up a $70-million fund to provide at least 16 weeks of compensation for employees who are not required to work the full wind-down period. Liquidation sales start in the next two or three weeks.
Here is a link to the full list of the creditors.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this article (relying on the creditor's report posted on the monitor's site) incorrectly said the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board was on the list of Target's creditors. The CPPIB reports that payment for Target's $8 million liability was received in 2014.