Mitchell Press: the paper goes to Dollco at book value

David Mitchell has spent 34 years in the printing industry, and his company has been on the buying end when a printer closes: Mitchell Press once bought a closing print business's paper inventory for approximately 25–35% of its book value. "Paper inventory typically has a liquidation value far below its book value," he affirmed on September 15, in a second affidavit meant to keep Mitchell Press's own paper from going the same way. Dollco Print Solutions Group Inc., which is taking over the Burnaby printer's jobs and customers, had indicated an interest in buying shipments of that paper at 100% of book. The stock was carried at approximately $475,000, and Dollco would take it in purchase orders of approximately $40,000 to $50,000 as it needed paper over the coming weeks, per the Affidavit #2 of David Mitchell, Sept. 15, 2026, paras. 3–5.

Two days later, on September 17, 2026, Justice Wilkinson of the Supreme Court of British Columbia granted both orders Mitchell Press had applied for. The approval and vesting order approves the sale of the customer list to Dollco for 5% of the revenue those customers generate over three years, the transaction reported here on September 12. The initial order grants the $200,000 administration charge, the authority to shut down and the extension of time to file a proposal to November 14, 2026, with one change from the draft: the ceiling on asset sales that need no further court approval is doubled, as the second affidavit asked, so that the paper can go to Dollco order by order, per the Approval and Vesting Order, Sept. 17, 2026, para. 1 and the Initial Order, Sept. 17, 2026, paras. 1, 6, 8.

Christian Garton and Tatum Miller of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt appeared for the company, Dan Nugent of Richards Buell Sutton for MNP Ltd. as proposal trustee, and Jeffrey Bradshaw for Dollco, per the appearance list scheduled to the Approval and Vesting Order, Sept. 17, 2026, Sched. "A". The service list filed with the application names Mr. Bradshaw and Christopher Pejovic of DLA Piper LLP as Dollco's counsel, per the Notice of Application, Sept. 10, 2026, Sched. "A", p. 2; by September 16 it also carried Koskie Glavin Gordon as counsel to Unifor Local 2000, per the Service List, Sept. 16, 2026, p. 2. Both orders were entered the day they were made, each signed for the court by the Registrar in Bankruptcy.

Paper at book value

Mr. Mitchell's reasoning had two parts. Paper sold in a liquidation, he said, brings far less than book. And Dollco would need "significant paper inventory" to finish work for the customer relationships it is assuming under the purchase agreement; that work is time-sensitive, and paper "in such quantities can often take weeks or months of lead-time to acquire," per the Affidavit #2 of David Mitchell, Sept. 15, 2026, para. 5. Selling at book, he said, was how Mitchell Press would maximize the value of both the paper and the customer list, "and therefore the earnout royalties payable to Mitchell Press," per the Affidavit #2 of David Mitchell, Sept. 15, 2026, para. 6.

The draft filed on September 10 would have allowed sales of redundant or non-material assets up to $50,000 a transaction and $500,000 in the aggregate, with the written approval of the trustee and the affected secured creditors for any asset over $10,000 — figures the company had sized to its equipment, as reported here on September 12. The second affidavit asked for $100,000, $1,000,000 and $50,000 instead. Counsel had discussed the change with the trustee, and "I understand the Proposal Trustee is supportive of the change," Mr. Mitchell affirmed, per the Affidavit #2 of David Mitchell, Sept. 15, 2026, paras. 7–8.

The order as made carries the higher figures. Paragraph 6, which also holds the shutdown authority, lets Mitchell Press keep marketing its redundant or non-material assets and sell them up to $100,000 in any one transaction or $1,000,000 in the aggregate, provided that for each sale of an asset for more than $50,000 it first obtains the written approval of the trustee and of any creditor with a valid and perfected security interest in that asset. Each asset sold vests in its buyer free and clear of all encumbrances, and the net proceeds stand in its place, every claim attaching to them with the priority it had against the asset, per the Initial Order, Sept. 17, 2026, paras. 6–7. The trustee's first report, written to the lower figures, gave its reasons for a ceiling at all: it spares the company court applications whose cost "further erodes the realizable value," management knows the competitors in the industry and the market for their assets, and every sale inside the ceiling needs the approval of the trustee and the affected secured creditors, per the Proposal Trustee's First Report, Sept. 15, 2026, paras. 40–41.

What the trustee saw

MNP's first report to the court, signed by Mario Mainella, senior vice president, records that Mitchell Press "had to curtail operations subsequent to the filing of the NOI," per the Proposal Trustee's First Report, Sept. 15, 2026, para. 28. Its summary of the causes, given as what the trustee understands from the company, puts a size on the lost customer: the largest customer had accounted for approximately 25% of annual sales, per the Proposal Trustee's First Report, Sept. 15, 2026, para. 11.

Its account of the marketing adds two particulars to the company's, reported here on September 12. The Canadian print-specific M&A firm the company approached in March 2026 "respectfully declined due to the lack of buyers in the market and advised that management should wind down the business instead." And the U.S. firm that took the mandate marketed the company to American industry players between April and July 2026; three signed non-disclosure agreements, and after separate meetings none of the three wanted to keep negotiating, per the Proposal Trustee's First Report, Sept. 15, 2026, para. 27.