Pathfinder Energy: a sealed sale to Ohm, and whose 2025 TIER true-up it is

Pathfinder Energy Ltd. sells electricity into the Alberta grid at the hours when the price peaks, and until its receivership it also mined bitcoin. On a Crown lease near Rocky Mountain House, two Caterpillar and three Waukesha gas engines, 7.6 MW between them, run on gas bought from Obsidian Energy Ltd.; a single Caterpillar engine at Hardisty adds 2 MW. A six-inch pipeline carries fuel gas about 0.7 km from the Rocky plant to a second pad, Rocky 5, where the company holds approval for fifty generators producing up to 60 MW for containerized data centres, per the First Report of the Receiver, Feb. 3, 2026, paras. 13, 28–29 and the Second Report of the Receiver, Sept. 21, 2026, para. 16 and pp. 99, 103–104. Among the regulatory records scheduled to the sale agreement is an Alberta Utilities Commission decision of January 2023 titled "Rocky 5 Bitcoin Mining Power Plant" (Second Report, p. 91).

On September 21, 2026, GlassRatner Restructuring Inc., receiver of Pathfinder and of its holding company MCK Energy Inc. since October 2025, signed an agreement selling substantially all of Pathfinder's assets to Ohm Technology Compute Inc., an Alberta corporation, which will take them through three numbered companies: 2851677 Alberta Ltd. for the Rocky plant, 2851562 Alberta Ltd. for Rocky 5 and its pipeline, and 2851570 Alberta Ltd. for everything else. The price sits in a confidential appendix the receiver asks the court to seal. Its Second Report, filed the same day, supports an application to Justice C.D. Simard of the Court of King's Bench of Alberta in Calgary on September 28, and tells the court that Royal Bank of Canada, the only secured creditor, "will sustain a shortfall, although there will still be a significant recovery," per the Second Report, paras. 10, 32–34, 38(b), 42 and pp. 35, 69.

A bank line, a pivot, and a seven-day hold

Pathfinder was incorporated in Alberta on February 12, 2018 as Nexus Energy Associates Ltd. and took its present name in June 2022; MCK holds 72.16% of its voting shares, according to the corporate search exhibited to the Affidavit of Ryan Adlington re: Revival, Aug. 24, 2026, Ex. "C". In the receiver's account, the business "began to experience financial challenges due to the weakening price of power," management tried to move into bitcoin mining and data centre development, and liquidity constraints left Pathfinder unable to service its bank debt (First Report, para. 15).

That debt was RBC's: six facilities under an amended and restated loan agreement of January 28, 2025, the largest a $7,033,828.50 non-revolving lease facility, with MCK's guarantee capped at $9,375,000 plus interest and costs. The bank's affiant swore that Pathfinder breached financial covenants and reporting requirements and fell behind on lease payments, that RBC demanded repayment on August 18, 2025 with notices under s. 244 of the BIA, and that the debtors owed $10,817,207.12 on October 2, 2025, per the Affidavit in Support of a Receivership (RBC), Oct. 3, 2025, paras. 8–18.

RBC had engaged GlassRatner to review its position. The affidavit says that after initially cooperative talks with the debtors' owner, "communications between RBC and [the owner] have since dissolved," and GlassRatner was not given access to the facilities or the books. He answered notice of the application with a proposed strategic partnership with Obsidian that he said could finance a partial payment. RBC's affiant said it was non-binding, offered no repayment timeline and would turn Pathfinder toward energy production for bitcoin mining, "which is contrary to the intended purpose of the Loans, and bitcoin/crypto mining is not an approved business sector for RBC lending" (RBC affidavit, paras. 19–27).

Justice Feasby appointed GlassRatner receiver and manager of both companies on October 7, 2025, under s. 243(1) of the BIA and Alberta's Judicature Act, Business Corporations Act and Personal Property Security Act, with a $250,000 receiver's charge and authority to borrow up to $500,000 (Receivership Order, Oct. 7, 2025, paras. 2, 21, 24). The order was then held in trust for seven days so that Obsidian could finish due diligence on buying Pathfinder's secured debt. Obsidian did not proceed, and the order took effect on October 15 (Second Report, para. 2).

Other people's equipment

The receiver terminated Pathfinder's employees on October 22, 2025, kept the peaking generation running through consulting agreements with former staff and contractors, and stopped the bitcoin mining altogether. Some of what sat on the sites belonged to other people. MARA Holdings Inc. showed it had bought eight generators at Rocky 5 in a court-approved sale in November 2024, and the receiver released them. Pulse Crypto Canada ULC returned Pathfinder processors it had taken under a replevin order days before the appointment took effect, and the receiver released to it a container and a generator confirmed as its own. KPMG Inc., trustee of the bankrupt Rustad Energy Ltd., received 17 bitcoin mining containers; 23 more on its list could not be found. Bitmain Technologies (Canada) Inc. asked after 532 processors, and the receiver reported that most serial numbers on the processors were "either missing or not easily identifiable," per the First Report, paras. 29, 44–61. Citing "the numerous and often competing claims" (First Report, para. 108), the receiver asked for its charge to rise to $750,000, and Justice Little granted the increase on February 13, 2026 (Order re SISP Approval, Feb. 13, 2026, para. 5).

Tekh Group Inc. claims Rocky 5 itself. By an asset purchase agreement dated August 15, 2024, Pathfinder sold Tekh a 200 m by 200 m fenced site at Rocky 5 and 900 m each of the pipeline and the road, in exchange for Tekh releasing $2.8 million Pathfinder owed it for site development costs. In June 2025 Pathfinder's then counsel alleged that Tekh owed about $3.9 million in expenses tied to its bitcoin mining there, the largest part of Pathfinder's receivables; the receiver, still assessing it in February, said it currently appeared to be "an unsupported claim." The receiver's counsel has opined that the Tekh agreement is "likely unenforceable due to ambiguity, among other things," in which case, the receiver says, the $2.8 million debt would revive as an unsecured claim (First Report, paras. 17(a), 33–43).

Eighty-three teasers, two binding bids

Justice Little's February 13 order also approved the sale process and TwelveSix Services Ltd. as sale agent (Order re SISP Approval, paras. 6, 8). The timetable called for letters of intent by March 20, binding bids by April 30 and closing by June 15 (First Report, para. 89). The receiver maintains that Tekh has no valid interest in Rocky 5, but Tekh consented, without prejudice, to its being marketed. It reserved its ownership claim and its claim to Rocky 5 proceeds; in return the receiver gave it information access during the process and agreed that if a sale closes, the proceeds attributable to Rocky 5 will be held in trust until the ownership question is resolved (Second Report, para. 36).

Teasers and non-disclosure agreements went to 83 potential bidders on February 20, and 29 signed. The first-phase deadline moved to April 17, by which 13 letters of intent had arrived; seven bidders qualified for the second phase, the other six proposals being "not competitive with the other offers or combination of offers." The binding-bid deadline moved twice, to May 28 and then June 12, and two binding bids came in, both confirmed as qualified. The receiver chose Ohm's as "the superior offer" (Second Report, paras. 21–29).