Surrey Super Market: the bank repaid, and $414,912 for the trustee

The keys to three South Asian grocery stores in Surrey and Abbotsford went to their new owner on the morning of April 17, 2026, the day after a reverse vesting sale closed, and on November 10 the receiver that sold them asked the Supreme Court of British Columbia to discharge it, per the Receiver's Second Report to Court, Nov. 10, 2026, paras. 1.5, 1.7, 2.1.3. PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc.'s application, set for November 23 at 2:00 p.m., seeks approval of its activities and fees and a discharge effective the day after it pays its remaining cash to the trustee in bankruptcy of 1583884 B.C. Ltd., the residual company formed to hold the liabilities vested out of the seven companies, per the Notice of Application, Nov. 10, 2026, p. 1 & Part 1, para. 1 and the Second Report, para. 1.4.

The receiver received sale proceeds of $27,500,000, its Second Report says. National Bank of Canada took $25,748,058, payments the receiver says "satisfied all amounts owing to NBC." After the secured creditors and the costs, $414,912 is left, which the receiver says belongs to the residual company and vests in its trustee, per the Second Report, paras. 2.3, 2.5, 2.8.

Three stores and the buildings under them

The seven companies, as the receiver's First Report of March 24, 2026 describes them, ran three grocery stores "specialising in South Asian food products and cooking equipment," with more than 30,000 square feet of retail space and, in the 2024 financial year, about $24.6 million of revenue and about $4.0 million of EBITDA. The Abbotsford store leased from an outside landlord; the two Surrey stores, on 128 Street and 104 Avenue, leased from group companies that owned the buildings. The group also owned a commercial building on 104 Avenue with three office tenants, a warehouse unit in Abbotsford, and a vacant residential building and land on 72 Avenue in Surrey. Two principals owned the companies and, the receiver says, were responsible for all key day-to-day management decisions before the receivership, per the Receiver's First Report to Court, Mar. 24, 2026, paras. 2.1–2.4.

At the receivership date, by the receiver's account, the group owed National Bank $25.1 million, secured among other things by first mortgages on both Surrey store properties, the commercial building and the warehouse. Canguard Mortgage Investment Corporation was owed $3.3 million on a first mortgage of the 72 Avenue property, and two individual lenders $718,000 on a second mortgage of the warehouse. Unsecured claims came to about $4.8 million, $1.5 million of it corporate income tax for 2022 to 2024 and $3.3 million owed to trade suppliers and service providers, per the First Report, paras. 2.7–2.9, 2.12.

The bank, "previously Canadian Western Bank," put the debt at $25,100,502.85 on October 16, 2025. Its affidavit says a forbearance agreement signed on June 20, 2025 "did not become effective" because its conditions precedent were not completed by the extended deadlines, and that the bank capped some of the credit facilities in July. It also says counsel for one of the companies had told the bank's counsel in May that the company had signed a commitment letter with Royal Bank of Canada and intended to refinance and pay the bank out in full; when the affidavit was sworn on October 23, its affiant was not aware of RBC funding the loan, per the NBC affidavit, Oct. 23, 2025, paras. 1, 10–11, 13, 21, 28, 42. On the evening the receiver was appointed, the receiver reports, the principals told it they were working to remove conditions to a term sheet from another major bank to refinance the business, per the First Report, para. 3.4.

Open under a receiver

Justice Masuhara appointed PwC receiver on Friday, October 31, 2025, on the bank's application under s. 243(1) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and s. 39 of the Law and Equity Act, per the Receivership Order, Oct. 31, 2025, para. 2. That day the receiver told the employees their employment was suspended, changed the stores' external locks and took control of the cash in the tills and safes. The principals, it says, were "strongly in favour of the stores continuing to operate," and once the receiver had seen the insurance policies and satisfied itself that the stores were generating positive operating income, it reopened them on November 2, with its own staff in the stores and, later, a contractor collecting each store's cash daily, per the First Report, paras. 3.2, 3.4–3.10. The principals continued to support the operations and, the receiver noted in March, "have not received any compensation for their assistance," per the First Report, para. 4.3.2.

In January 2026, the report says, it became evident to the receiver "based on news reports that many small businesses in Surrey, British Columbia, were being targeted with gang violence and local business owners were being threatened and extorted for cash payments." It hired a security firm for additional security at the two Surrey stores from January 26 to February 8, and stopped after the principals advised that, in their experience, criminal activity had subsided, per the First Report, paras. 3.13–3.14.

213 parties and three bids for everything

The sale process opened on December 10, 2025, with the business and real estate offered in four parcels. The buyers list of 213 parties held grocery store operators and real estate investors, and, because the receiver anticipated interest from "entrepreneurs from the South Asian community, particularly located in Metro Vancouver," local business owners, realtors and law firms. In January 2026 the receiver ran "three live advertisement reads for five consecutive days" on Red FM, which it describes as a Vancouver South Asian radio station, and three weekly advertisements in the Indo Canadian Times, a Punjabi newspaper, per the First Report, paras. 5.1–5.4.

By the February 20, 2026 deadline, 54 parties had signed non-disclosure agreements and seven had made offers, three en bloc and four for one or more individual parcels. None of the en bloc offers qualified at the deadline; in each case, the receiver says, the offer did not satisfy the deposit requirement or did not provide sufficient evidence of financing. In the receiver's assessment each still provided a higher recovery than the highest parcel offers combined with an estimated recovery for the rest, and with the bank's agreement it kept working with all three. On February 25, 1578478 B.C. Ltd. met the criteria. It had offered the highest purchase price of the three, and it asked that the transaction be restructured as a reverse vesting order, per the First Report, paras. 5.7–5.8, 5.12–5.16. The receiver had collected a $500,000 deposit from it on February 20, and the subscription agreement is dated March 13, per the Notice of Application, Mar. 24, 2026, paras. 1(a), 12.

The 72 Avenue property was kept out of the process; the receiver said it was "not integral to SSM's regular business operations" and that it intended to list it with a local realtor, per the First Report, para. 5.1. It went to the buyer with everything else. The subscription agreement listed no excluded assets, so the buyer would be "effectively acquiring all of SSM's assets," the receiver wrote, and Canguard, whose loan would stay with the companies, supported the deal on the understanding that the purchaser assumed the full liability and all security remained in place, per the First Report, paras. 6.1.2, 6.1.4, 6.4.5. After closing, the trustee's preliminary report said the buyer "took ownership of all SSM Property" and that the Canguard loan "was retained and was not transferred to ResidualCo," per the Trustee's Preliminary Report to Creditors, Apr. 28, 2026, p. 2.