Sonic Enclosures: $401 in the bank and four weeks to find a buyer

From 43676 Progress Way in Chilliwack, ten full-time employees — seven on the shop floor, three in management — build pre-fabricated steel rooms for other companies' machines: control rooms, operator cabs, secure laboratories, the modular enclosures that house electrical and mechanical equipment for utilities, mines, marine operators, and the data centre and cryptocurrency infrastructure sectors, per Affidavit #1 of Matei Ghelesel, affirmed Aug. 27, 2026, paras. 7–8 and the First Report of the Proposal Trustee, Aug. 28, 2026, paras. 16, 18. The company has been on the British Columbia register since December 2, 1992 — its first nine years under the name Sonic Barrier Sound Products Ltd. — and has historically generated annual sales in excess of $14 million, per Notice of Motion, Aug. 27, 2026, para. 3 and the First Report of the Proposal Trustee, Aug. 28, 2026, para. 19. On August 7, 2026, at 6:57 in the evening, it filed a notice of intention to make a proposal under s. 50.4(1) of the BIA, staying its creditors from that moment, per the Certificate of Filing a Notice of Intention, Aug. 7, 2026.

The pivot, and what arrived the year after

The first affidavit of Matei Ghelesel, Sonic's CEO and director, dates the company's present shape to 2023, when two things happened at roughly the same time: Sonic replaced RBC with Accord Financial as its senior lender, and it walked away from engineering-intensive capital projects to concentrate on the back-up power market — a standardized product line whose variations turn mainly on the size of the engine and generator inside, sold through key OEM relationships rather than project by project. The affidavit presents the shift as a success on its own terms: a repeatable production-line approach, better gross margins, lower sales and administrative costs, per Affidavit #1 of Matei Ghelesel, affirmed Aug. 27, 2026, paras. 12–13.

Then tariffs were announced in 2024, and the rate at which Sonic won new purchase orders declined sharply — at the same time as collection notices and legal claims arrived on trade debt left over from the business it had just exited, per Affidavit #1 of Matei Ghelesel, affirmed Aug. 27, 2026, para. 14. The company's largest client revised its payment terms to be significantly less front-loaded, which moved working capital strain onto Sonic, per Affidavit #1 of Matei Ghelesel, affirmed Aug. 27, 2026, para. 15. In June 2026 further tariff increases were announced. Since then, the company says, it has not been awarded a single new purchase order from its primarily U.S.-based clients, per Affidavit #1 of Matei Ghelesel, affirmed Aug. 27, 2026, para. 16.

Mr. Ghelesel's account of the last six months is personal. He deposes that he exhausted his own resources keeping the company operating, including injecting approximately $285,000 from his RRSPs, while mounting legal pressure from BDC and other unsecured creditors "began to reach the Company's clients and competitors," making new business harder to close, per Affidavit #1 of Matei Ghelesel, affirmed Aug. 27, 2026, para. 17.

The BDC pressure has a docket of its own. On October 6, 2025, BDC filed a notice of civil claim against Sonic as principal debtor — and against MMG1 Holdings Ltd. and Matei Metal Group Ltd. as guarantors — for $556,426.60, a claim the notice of motion says materially affected market confidence, impaired Sonic's ability to secure new work and slowed its collections, per Notice of Motion, Aug. 27, 2026, para. 20. Settlement negotiations failed. BDC obtained judgment on August 5, 2026, per Notice of Motion, Aug. 27, 2026, para. 21. Discussions with Accord about a credit increase had stalled, and efforts to restructure the Accord debt did not progress, per Affidavit #1 of Matei Ghelesel, affirmed Aug. 27, 2026, para. 18. The NOI came two days after the judgment.

Who is owed what

According to the company's books and records, Sonic's liabilities at the filing date were approximately $3,652,634, per the First Report of the Proposal Trustee, Aug. 28, 2026, para. 20. Accord Financial Canada Corp. holds roughly $1,937,064 under a general security agreement over all assets; BDC holds approximately $580,000, also under a general security agreement; a priorities agreement dated September 11, 2023 gives Accord first claim on receivables and inventory and BDC first claim on the rest, per the First Report of the Proposal Trustee, Aug. 28, 2026, paras. 20–21 and the Notice of Motion, Aug. 27, 2026, paras. 13–14. VW Credit Canada holds about $50,000 against motor vehicles, and Color Compass Corporation has what the motion calls a purported general security agreement, ranking behind both lenders, for trade debt of about $17,607, per the Notice of Motion, Aug. 27, 2026, paras. 15–16. The proposal trustee, Ernst & Young Inc., has not yet reviewed the validity or enforceability of any of the registered security, per the First Report of the Proposal Trustee, Aug. 28, 2026, para. 22. Sonic swears it owes CRA nothing — GST and source deductions are current — and is itself owed a GST refund of approximately $60,000, per Affidavit #1 of Matei Ghelesel, affirmed Aug. 27, 2026, para. 22.

The rest is trade debt, and the Form 33 list of creditors with claims of $250 or more, mailed to creditors with the trustee's August 11 notice, runs to some seventy names totalling $4,027,809.90 — among the larger entries, Advantec Marine at $223,875.84, Marcon of Ferndale, Washington at $206,242.35, and Vlad Ghelesel at $145,000, per the Notice to Creditors, Aug. 11, 2026, List of Creditors, pp. 2–6. Three of the claims on the list — Advantec Marine, Advanced Bending Technologies at $66,000 and Advanced Flow at $40,886.98, about $330,000 together — give the same Progress Way address as Sonic itself.

Three weeks without a courtroom

An NOI needs no judge to start, and for its first three weeks this proceeding had none: the stay ran from the Official Receiver's certificate under estate number 11-3408209. On August 27, Sonic's counsel filed a requisition to open a Supreme Court of British Columbia file in bankruptcy and insolvency — No. B-260534, Vancouver Registry — for the company's first application, per the Requisition to Open a File, Aug. 27, 2026.

The notice of motion filed the same day is returnable Monday, August 31, at 9:00 a.m. at 800 Smithe Street. It asks for four things: an extension of the proposal-filing deadline from September 8 to 11:59 p.m. on October 23; a first-priority administration charge of up to $100,000 for the trustee, its counsel and Reedman Law; approval of a $250,000 interim financing term sheet with a charge for the lender; and approval of a sale and investment solicitation process, per the Notice of Motion, Aug. 27, 2026, para. 1. The application is outside a bankruptcy registrar's jurisdiction, and Justice Brongers has been assigned to hear it, per the Notice of Motion, Aug. 27, 2026, p. 1.