Innomalt: the Bécancour malt house goes to market

The malt house Innomalt Inc. runs in the Bécancour Industrial and Port Park came into service in 2024. The investment teaser now in the hands of prospective buyers describes a plant with an estimated potential capacity of 15,000 metric tonnes a year, equipment that runs grain, wort and biochemical analyses on every batch it produces, and more than 350 active customers in markets that include breweries, distilleries and food, with 95% of revenue earned in Québec, 4% in Ontario and 1% in the Maritimes, per the Teaser, circulated Sept. 4, 2026, p. 1. Over the company's first three fiscal years its revenue went from $1.4 million to $1.9 million to $3.0 million, and its net result from a loss that rounded to nothing in fiscal 2024 to losses of $3.8 million in 2025 and $8.2 million in the year that ended July 31, 2026, per the First Report of the Trustee, Sept. 8, 2026, paras. 9, 14.

On August 12, 2026 the company filed a notice of intention to make a proposal under s. 50.4(1) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, and Restructuration Deloitte Inc. accepted the trustee's mandate the same day. The official receiver's certificate, reissued as amended on August 13, records the stay of proceedings under s. 69(1) from the date of filing, per the Certificate of Filing of a Notice of Intention, Aug. 13, 2026, p. 1 and the First Report of the Trustee, Sept. 8, 2026, para. 11. The file is No. 400-11-007415-267 in the Commercial Division of the Superior Court of Québec, district of Trois-Rivières. On September 10 a bankruptcy registrar granted the company its first extension, 45 days, to October 26, per the Order Extending the Time for Filing a Proposal, Sept. 10, 2026, p. 1. The motion behind it sets out what the time is meant to buy: a sale of all or substantially all of the business, run with the trustee and agreed with the secured lenders, followed by a court order approving it, per the Motion to Extend the Time for Filing a Proposal, Sept. 8, 2026, paras. 7, 11.

Three years of growth and $12 million of losses

Innomalt was incorporated in September 2014 under Québec's Business Corporations Act and keeps its head office in Bécancour, where it has seven employees; Radio-Canada, reporting on the plant project in April 2022, said the company was founded in Sherbrooke. The trustee lists six shareholders, none of them holding a majority: Capital régional et coopératif Desjardins, Délimax Veaux Lourds Ltée, La Coop Novago, Vivaco Groupe Coopératif, and two individuals, Pascal Viens and Raphaël Viens. Jean-Luc Breton, the president, sits on a six-member board and represents the company in the proceeding, per the First Report of the Trustee, Sept. 8, 2026, paras. 5–10.

The record filed so far contains no sworn narrative of how the losses built up. The extension motion rests on Mr. Breton's solemn declaration that its allegations are true and on the trustee's report, and it says that since filing the company has been working "to analyse rationalization and financial restructuring initiatives and to develop a viable proposal to submit to its creditors" [translation], per the Motion to Extend the Time for Filing a Proposal, Sept. 8, 2026, para. 5 and p. 5. The trustee's report sums up the three years in a single sentence: "Despite sustained growth in its revenue over its last three (3) fiscal years, the Debtor accumulated net losses totalling $12M over that period" [translation]. The 2024 and 2025 figures come from review-engagement financial statements prepared by Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton; the 2026 figures are the company's own unaudited internal numbers, per the First Report of the Trustee, Sept. 8, 2026, paras. 14–15 and nn. 1–3.

Who is owed $62.4 million

At net book value on July 31, 2026, Innomalt's assets stood at $57.4 million. Of that, $54.5 million was property, plant and equipment, "mainly composed of the building and the equipment forming the malt house operated by the Debtor" [translation]; the rest was $2.0 million of inventory and $0.8 million of receivables. Liabilities were $62.4 million, per the First Report of the Trustee, Sept. 8, 2026, paras. 16, 18–19.

Secured debt accounts for $29.1 million, or 47%, spread across three lenders: Investissement Québec at $11.4 million, Farm Credit Canada at $8.5 million, and Caisse Desjardins de Godefroy at $8.5 million plus a $0.7 million bank loan. The trustee has not yet requested or obtained an independent legal opinion on the validity and enforceability of that security. The unsecured side, $33.3 million, is mostly shareholder advances, $26.2 million or 42% of all liabilities: $7.1 million listed under Delimax / Jafaco, $7.1 million from La Coop Novago, $6.9 million from La coopérative Vivaco and $5.1 million from Desjardins capital de risque inc. Trade creditors are owed $1.1 million, and other liabilities come to $6.0 million. There is no regulated pension plan, and the trustee reports no arrears in wages or in GST/QST, CNESST or source-deduction remittances, per the First Report of the Trustee, Sept. 8, 2026, paras. 19–24.

The list of creditors attached to the notice of intention gives the claims to the cent and totals $62,842,322.22. Investissement Québec's claim is $11,401,516.00, the caisse's $9,175,000.00 and Farm Credit Canada's $8,500,000.00. La Coop Novago appears twice, at $6,917,189.00 and $154,289.46; La Coopérative Vivaco at $6,877,953.00; Jafaco International Inc. at $5,961,532.00, annotated "to be confirmed according to the invoice" [translation]; Desjardins Capital de risque inc. at $5,095,564.00; and Délimax Veaux Lourds Ltée twice, at $1,119,089.00 and $17,979.34. The list also names Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions at $2,500,000.00, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at $2,115,438.00 and Capital Financière agricole inc. at $989,961.00, along with Mitsubishi HC Capital Canada Leasing Inc., formerly Clé Capital, at $460,500.00, Semican Inc. at $450,000.00, and RWF Consulting for Malting, of Richer, Manitoba, at $195,478.25, per the Notice of Intention to Make a Proposal and list of creditors, Aug. 14, 2026, pp. 3–6.