Media One Creative: $3.6 million on the books, valued at nominal or nil

BDO Canada Limited, receiver and manager of Media One Creative Inc. since June 3, 2026, has asked the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to discharge it. Its First Report, dated October 23, takes the agency's trial balance at June 3 ($3,615,106 of assets at book value, $3,036,772 of them accounts receivable) and sets an estimated realizable value beside each asset: "Nominal" for the intangible assets, the receivables and an "Other" line, and "Nil" for the rest, among them a $35,351 HST receivable and $128,460 of property, plant and equipment, per the First Report of BDO Canada Limited, Oct. 23, 2026, para. 13.

The motion was returnable on November 2, 2026 at 11:00 a.m., and the notice proposes a hearing by Zoom videoconference. It asks the court to approve the First Report and the activities it describes, the receiver's interim statement of receipts and disbursements, its fees and disbursements and a $20,000 fee accrual; to authorize the receiver to return the companies' electronic books and records to their officers and directors; and to discharge BDO and release it from liability, per the Notice of Motion, Oct. 23, 2026, paras. 1(a)–(g), 12. No order from that hearing is in the record.

The report's reasons for putting a nominal value on the customer relationships and brand include revenue. It fell from approximately $5.8 million in the fiscal year ended July 31, 2024 to approximately $651,000 in the year ended July 31, 2025, and from January 1, 2026 to the receivership it was approximately $110,000, "generated from a single remaining customer." Relying on discussions with BDO's mergers and acquisitions team, the report says the agency worked in an industry "in which customers commonly engaged multiple creative agencies and could readily transition to alternative providers," that its value depended on creative personnel, "all of whom ceased employment following the commencement of the receivership proceedings," and that while media and marketing businesses may be valued at 4x to 6x EBITDA, Media One Creative's EBITDA was negative. "Accordingly, the Receiver understands that the business had little to no enterprise value," per the First Report, para. 13(a).

What CIBC says it waited for

Media One Creative was incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act on August 20, 2012, per the corporate profile in the CIBC affidavit, May 21, 2026, Ex. "A". BDO's statutory notice describes it as "a creative agency and video production company for business-to-business companies," with three leased locations in Toronto, per the Notice and Statement of Receiver, June 10, 2026, paras. 2, 5(b). Its head office was in two commercial condominium units at 130 Queens Quay East owned by a related company, 130 QQE Holdings 2020 Inc., per the CIBC supplementary affidavit, June 1, 2026, para. 4(e). Three affiliates entered the receivership with it (Media One Group Holdings Inc., Media One Creative USA Inc. and the company that employed the agency's chief executive and received fees from Media One Creative for the chief executive's services), and the receiver describes all three as holding companies with no active operations or material assets, per the First Report, paras. 9, 14.

CIBC lent under a credit agreement dated December 6, 2023 and amended January 10, 2024: a $2,500,000 revolving line at CIBC's prime rate plus 1.50%, repayable on demand, and a $100,000 business credit card facility. Each of the companies, 130 QQE included, gave CIBC a general security agreement; the three affiliates and 130 QQE gave unlimited guarantees; the chief executive gave a guarantee limited to $1,000,000; and Export Development Canada guaranteed the line under its trade expansion lending program, to a limit of $2,500,000, per the CIBC affidavit, paras. 12, 15, 17.

On September 11, 2025, CIBC wrote that it was "no longer prepared to provide loan accommodations" and asked to be repaid in full by December 12. Its letter of concern listed a net loss of $33,902 for fiscal 2024, a year-to-date net loss of $2,258,509 to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, and breaches of the borrower's funded debt to EBITDA and minimum EBITDA covenants, per the CIBC affidavit, paras. 21–22 and Ex. "K".

The bank's affidavit, affirmed by a senior manager in its Special Loans Group, sets out what followed. On October 9 the chief executive told CIBC that a broker was in active discussion with the Bank of Montreal and National Bank and that EDC would support the transition; on November 4, that a $6,000,000 lending facility with EDC was under negotiation, $2,000,000 of it to repay CIBC; on December 8, that the financing package with EDC was progressing. "As at today's date, six months after the above discussions, neither bank has indicated that they are willing to refinance the Borrower's Indebtedness," the affidavit says, per the CIBC affidavit, paras. 23–25, 27.

On March 9, 2026, CIBC's counsel, Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP, demanded $2,492,023.24, the total as at March 5, and enclosed a notice of intention to enforce security under s. 244 of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. The March 19 deadline passed without payment, per the CIBC affidavit, paras. 28–29 and Ex. "M". On April 13 the bank sent a draft forbearance agreement. The chief executive told CIBC the document was being reviewed with counsel, and CIBC set an April 30 deadline for a marked-up draft; as of May 21, the affidavit says, the bank had received no comment on the draft and the facilities had not been paid. As of May 12 the debtors owed CIBC $2,515,788.85, excluding professional fees, disbursements and accruing interest, per the CIBC affidavit, paras. 30, 32, 34, 42–43.

The consultant's report and the email that sent it

A licensed insolvency trustee had been engaged as consultant to the companies, under an engagement letter of April 28, 2026, to evaluate their financial position and restructuring options. The report, dated May 26, reached CIBC the next day. It found, on what it calls a limited review, that Media One Creative and 130 QQE "meet the definition of an 'insolvent person'" under s. 2 of the BIA, and that "there appears to be no material income being generated and no core business with a prospect of restructuring." On receivables it wrote that "the collectable accounts receivable due to Media One Creative may be nil as of the date of this report." Its recommendation: "The Companies should either (a) acquiesce to the receivership appointment or (b) assign Media One Creative into bankruptcy immediately," per the Supplementary affidavit, paras. 3–4 and Ex. "A", pp. 10–13, 17, 26. The chief executive had told the consultant that the company did not have sufficient funds to pay the wages and payroll source deductions due on May 26, but that all earlier ones had been paid, per the Supplementary affidavit, para. 4(d).

In the May 27 email that attached the report, the chief executive, writing "As Director of Media One Creative Inc.," told CIBC, BDC and EDC that "it may now be more practical and cost-effective for the affected companies to make a voluntary assignment into bankruptcy rather than proceed through further contested enforcement proceedings," an approach that "would materially reduce legal and administrative costs," per the Supplementary affidavit, Ex. "A", p. 6. In the correspondence that followed, the supplementary affidavit says, the chief executive advised that the debtors intended to appoint the consultant as trustee in bankruptcy, and did not agree when CIBC asked whether BDO could be appointed instead, per the Supplementary affidavit, para. 6.