Concept Electric: eight years, and the last $158,474

On or about July 10, 2018, Concept Electric Ltd. stopped work and terminated the employment of all of its staff, approximately 440 people, and inventory and equipment were left behind at job sites throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan; after its appointment the receiver reviewed approximately 100 of those sites and found 23 where the assets looked worth the cost of bringing them back, per the Receiver's Second Report, Aug. 28, 2018, paras. 11, 22–24. Six days after the shutdown, on July 16, Justice B.E.C. Romaine of what was then the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta appointed Grant Thornton Limited receiver and manager of Concept, its Saskatchewan affiliate 101200672 Saskatchewan Ltd. and 1645943 Alberta Inc., on the application of HSBC Bank Canada and with the consent of the companies' counsel, under s. 243(1) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, per the consent receivership order attached to the Receiver's First Report, Aug. 10, 2018, App. 1, recitals and para. 2.

Eight years and six reports later, the receiver says the administration "is substantially complete as the sales have been completed and Fabricom litigation resolved." Its Sixth Report, dated August 31, 2026, records total receipts over the receivership of $5,430,439 and proposes a final distribution of $41,865.46 and $8,555.82 to two union trust claimants, with the balance, estimated at $158,474 after final fees, to RBC, as successor to HSBC, on its first-ranking secured claim, per the Receiver's Sixth Report, Aug. 31, 2026, paras. 32, 35, App. 1. The application for a discharge order is returnable September 9, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. before Justice A.G. Kuntz, by Webex, per the Application of the Receiver, Aug. 31, 2026, pp. 1–2.

Thirteen years of HSBC lending

The three companies operated together as a full-service electrical contractor doing electrical contracting, project management and ongoing service and maintenance work, with Alberta projects performed under Concept and Saskatchewan projects under 101 Sask. Concept was owned 89.78% by Bow-Alta Electric Ltd. and 10.22% by 1651537 Alberta Ltd., and it owned both affiliates outright, per the Receiver's Fourth Report, Mar. 19, 2020, paras. 2–3. 1645943 Alberta's primary purpose was security monitoring, with limited business activity, per the Receiver's Second Report, Aug. 28, 2018, para. 14.

HSBC's affiant, an assistant vice-president in the bank's loan management unit, traced the lending to a $1,500,000 loan agreement with Concept in March 2005. A new agreement for $3,000,000 followed in 2007 and another for $4,259,875 in 2009, and an amendment in December 2012 raised the amount available to $12,500,350. In April 2013 both affiliates guaranteed Concept's debt to the bank and granted general security agreements behind the guarantees. By the last amendment, on May 1, 2018, the facilities stood at $15,274,414: a $12,000,000 operating loan at prime plus 1.25%, capital loans of $174,414 and $3,000,000, and a $100,000 MasterCard facility, per the Affidavit of Cameron Bailey, July 13, 2018, paras. 1, 4, 9, 11, 13–24.

On June 25, 2018 the three companies owed the bank $13,981,041.64 plus accruing interest and enforcement costs, and HSBC sent demands that day with notices of intention to enforce security under s. 244 of the BIA. The companies' own account of the end appears in the bank's affidavit, and it is brief: they advised that they had "exhausted all potential sources of funds that may have allowed for their continued operation," that they were insolvent and incapable of continuing, and that their counsel was instructed to consent to a receivership, per the Affidavit of Cameron Bailey, July 13, 2018, paras. 29–31.

The receiver's first survey of the other creditors estimated about $2,103,000 in statutory deemed trust and potential priority claims (wage earner protection claims of $873,000, unremitted source deductions of $571,000 and unremitted GST of $659,000), secured claims of $2,818,997 by Eecol Electric ULC and $1,906,790 by Wesco Distribution Canada LP besides HSBC's $13,987,043, and roughly $3,234,718 in unsecured trade debt, per the Receiver's Second Report, Aug. 28, 2018, para. 15. In its first report the receiver had already told the court it "anticipates that HSBC will incur a significant shortfall on its security," per the Receiver's First Report, Aug. 10, 2018, para. 9.

Twenty million dollars on the books

At the appointment the companies' books carried $20,427,632 in accounts and holdbacks receivable, per the Notice and Statement of Receiver, July 23, 2018, para. 1, most of it on construction projects at various stages of completion when the work stopped. The receiver registered builders' liens totalling $8,897,151, on top of $735,942 in liens filed before the receivership, and on November 16, 2018 its counsel sent more than 280 demand letters, per the Receiver's Third Report, Nov. 19, 2018, paras. 10–12, 14.

By February 29, 2020 it had collected $3,117,615, and $17,610,751 remained outstanding, about 80% of it ($13,911,924) on 23 large, complex projects. The Fourth Report identified two issues reducing what could be collected: approximately $7,088,031 related to projects on which Intact Insurance Company had issued performance or labour and material bonds, where some owners said they had paid Intact directly on its claims; and project owners and customers had documented set-offs against a further $5,406,651, per the Receiver's Fourth Report, Mar. 19, 2020, paras. 18, 21.

In early 2020 the receiver divided the book: it kept about $3,798,635 in receivables it had settled or thought worth pursuing, and agreed to sell the remainder, about $13,812,116, to 2238649 Alberta Ltd., "a company solely owned by" the former director, David Kinley, with whom it had been in ongoing discussions about collections. It gave three reasons: further collection on those accounts was unlikely to realize more than it cost, the sale transferred the collection risk and cost while leaving the estate a share of any recovery, and HSBC, as the party with the primary economic interest, supported it, per the Receiver's Fourth Report, Mar. 19, 2020, paras. 22–25.

The agreement set the price at $10 plus 30% of all gross money the purchaser collected on the receivables, contract claims and choses in action, the 30% not to be reduced by the purchaser's own collection costs, which were the purchaser's to bear. It also provided for Mr. Kinley, as shareholder and former director, to release the receiver, in a form that includes a covenant not to raise improvident realization in any proceeding, including any guarantee claim against him, per the Receiver's Fourth Report, Mar. 19, 2020, App. 5, ss. 2.2, 2.4, 9.1, Sched. "G". The court granted the relief on March 27, 2020, per the Receiver's Sixth Report, Aug. 31, 2026, paras. 8–9.