Nexus Construction: the bank joins the receiver as a protected party

Lot 1 847 280 of the cadastre of Québec lies in the land registration division of Deux-Montagnes, with frontage on route Sir-Wilfrid-Laurier. 9468-4545 Québec Inc. was incorporated to own it, and it is, in the words of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the company's "only real asset" [translation], per the CIBC, Motion for the Appointment of a Receiver, May 4, 2026, para. 4. The company carries on no business, and its receiver gives the lot's address as 6500 route Sir-Wilfrid-Laurier, in Mirabel, and its book value, from the company's most recent internal financial statements, as $1,464,633, according to the Notice and Statement of the Receiver, May 14, 2026, p. 1. It belongs to what CIBC calls the Nexus Group, an excavation business whose main operations were carried on by Nexus Construction Inc. in Québec and Nexus Construction-Ontario Inc. in Ontario; 4545's historic head office was at 2900 Montée Saint-François in Laval. Romeo Sacchetti is 4545's sole director, and the bank's motion says the group's companies are entirely controlled by him and his brother, Antonio Sacchetti, per the CIBC, Amended Motion for a Receivership Order, July 9, 2026, paras. 17–19, 21–22.

Two orders about the lot were made on May 7, 2026. In the Superior Court's Commercial Division in Montréal, court file 500-11-066876-265, Registrar Patrick Gosselin appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. receiver of it on CIBC's application under s. 243 of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, per the Order Appointing a Receiver, May 7, 2026, p. 1, para. 4. The same day, Québec's Minister of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks issued order no. 759 under s. 114 of the Environment Quality Act against 4545 and Nexus Construction, requiring them, as the "administrées", to carry out a complete environmental characterization of the lot and to restore it. On July 15, at CIBC's request, the same registrar amended the receivership order to declare the receiver, the bank and anyone either of them designates to sell the lot not liable in connection with the Minister's order, absent gross or intentional fault, per the Amended Order Appointing a Receiver, July 15, 2026, p. 2 and paras. 30–33.

Three forbearances and a date for firm offers

CIBC has been the Nexus Group's operating lender since 2015. Its account of how the group came to May begins with a letter of July 3, 2024 declaring defaults: as of June 28 of that year, Nexus Construction had drawn $16,060,151.94 on a revolving facility whose limit, first set at $9,000,000, had been raised temporarily to $12,000,000 in April. The bank held off, and raised the limit again, to $17,000,000, until a property on rue Léopold-Hamelin in Laval was sold or August 16, 2024, whichever came first, per the CIBC, Motion for the Appointment of a Receiver, May 4, 2026, paras. 23, 26, 40–41.

Three forbearance agreements followed, running to November 29, 2024, March 14, 2025 and August 29, 2025. The first, signed October 2, 2024, is where 4545 enters the bank's security: it called for an unlimited guarantee by 4545 of the group's obligations under the loan agreements, and for $13,000,000 in new immovable hypothecs on three properties, $3,000,000 of it on the route Sir-Wilfrid-Laurier lot. 4545 granted that hypothec by a deed of October 8, 2024, and its letter of guarantee is dated October 16. The Léopold-Hamelin property sold at the end of November 2024, and the net proceeds partly repaid what was owed to CIBC and to Investissement Québec, but the overdraft and the defaults persisted. The bank, with the borrowers' approval, retained PwC as its consultant from February 27, 2025, per the CIBC, Motion for the Appointment of a Receiver, May 4, 2026, paras. 33–34, 44–46, 48, 52, 54, 74.

By the third agreement, of July 2, 2025, the defaults the bank recited included unpaid source deductions of more than $3,000,000. That agreement required, among other things, a detailed asset-sale plan and firm offers by August 29, 2025 for the Sir-Wilfrid-Laurier lot and for a second property, on Montée Saint-François in Laval, held by the affiliate Nexxum Real Estate. The bank sent a notice of intention to enforce its security on September 24, 2025, then agreed not to publish it on the group's representation that a sale of the Saint-François property was about to close; no transaction had closed by January 2026, when the notice was updated, served and published, per the CIBC, Motion for the Appointment of a Receiver, May 4, 2026, paras. 21, 55–56, 58–60. For the Sir-Wilfrid-Laurier lot, CIBC says, the firm offers "were ultimately never obtained" [translation], per the CIBC, Amended Motion for a Receivership Order, July 9, 2026, para. 29.

On February 25, 2026, 4545, Nexus Construction, Nexxum and the holding company, Gestion Modena, filed notices of intention to make a proposal, with PwC as trustee. 4545's time to file a proposal was extended to May 11. The trustee told the bank that 4545 was unlikely to make a viable proposal even with a second extension; CIBC said it would not fund one, and the trustee's cash-flow statement for February 25 to March 27 projected no operations, no receipts and no disbursements. As of March 16, CIBC put 4545's debt to it at no less than $14,848,120.52, excluding fees and penalties, per the CIBC, Motion for the Appointment of a Receiver, May 4, 2026, paras. 6–8, 18, 22, 62, 65–66.

The May 7 order recites that CIBC "will suffer a loss" and that "there will be no equity for ordinary creditors" [translation]. It secures the professional fees of the receiver and of CIBC, their lawyers and other advisers with an administration charge of up to $100,000 plus taxes, ranking ahead of all other hypothecs, security and priorities on the property, "including any deemed trust" [translation], per the Order Appointing a Receiver, May 7, 2026, p. 2 and paras. 21–22.

Five days later, on May 12, the company was deemed to have made an assignment in bankruptcy, having filed no proposal within the extended time, and PwC became trustee of its estate as well. The statement of affairs Romeo Sacchetti swore on May 20 gives the company's reason for its difficulty in one line: "Related companies have suffered because of the slow down in the Construction industry." It lists the land at $1,464,633 and two creditors: CIBC for $14,813,507.27, of which $860,464.78 is shown as secured, and Groupe Maxdev for $604,168.22, secured, per the Notice of Bankruptcy and First Meeting of Creditors, May 20, 2026, pp. 1–4. Maxdev, the lot's former owner, registered a hypothec on it of $1,450,000, plus an additional 20 per cent, in November 2022, and assigned the claim to Groupe Financier Leclair inc. on November 25, 2025, per the CIBC, Motion for the Appointment of a Receiver, May 4, 2026, paras. 37–38.

Among the affiliates, Nexus Construction-Ontario went into bankruptcy on March 12, per its Notice of Bankruptcy, Mar. 16, 2026, p. 1, and Modena Holdings (Gestion Modena) was deemed bankrupt on March 30, per its Notice of Bankruptcy, Apr. 7, 2026, p. 1. Nexxum was placed in receivership by Registrar Judith Daigle in Laval on April 27, per the Order Appointing a Receiver (Nexxum), Apr. 27, 2026, p. 1, and was deemed bankrupt on May 12, per its Notice of Bankruptcy, May 20, 2026, p. 1. Nexus Construction, the Québec operating company, was deemed bankrupt on June 26, with liabilities of $25,482,339.70 on its own statement of affairs; its first meeting of creditors was called for July 16, per the Notice of Bankruptcy and First Meeting of Creditors, June 30, 2026, pp. 1, 3.