 Eventually, William McGillivray accepted the inevitability of a merger between the NWC and the HBC, and his brother Simon McGillivray set about bringing it to pass.An agreement was signed in 1821 and the once great Montreal company disappeared under the trading banner of the HBC.McGillivray was content that he had settled on equal terms with the HBC, but only a few months after his death both McTavish, McGillivrays & Co., of London and McGillivrays, Thain & Co., of Montreal were declared bankrupt.