Vista Medical: the patents were the parent's, and the rest sold for $30,000

Vista Medical Ltd. made pressure-mapping bedding materials and equipment from a leased unit at 55 Henlow Bay in Winnipeg, and on October 9, 2024, five days after the Court of King's Bench of Manitoba put it into receivership, an appraiser from McDougall Auctioneers Ltd. inventoried what was left there: 17 office desks, 53 office chairs, 54 lockers, a foosball table, five medical beds, a mannequin, three wood bed testing stations and a durability testing unit. The appraisal put a forced liquidation value of $22,617.00 on all of it, per the First Report, Aug. 18, 2026, paras. 5–6, 16, App. B, pp. 28–29.

The receiver concluded it could not sell the business itself. The patents, the BodiTrak trademark and the pressure-mapping technology belonged to Vista's US parent, PatienTech LLC, and Vista's licence to use them was stated to end when the receiver was appointed. In February 2025 a Delaware company bought the rest, from equipment in a storage unit to regulatory registrations and a customer account with Serta-Simmons, for $30,000. On August 18, 2026, in its first report to the court, MNP Ltd. asked to be discharged, and said that once its fees and its lawyers' were paid, the distribution to Royal Bank of Canada is "expected to be nominal," per the First Report, Aug. 18, 2026, paras. 22–24, 50–52.

What the bank saw in the statements

RBC's account is the affidavit of Kerry Orth, a senior manager in its Special Loans and Advisory Services group, affirmed September 19, 2024. Under a Credit Facilities Agreement dated October 20, 2021, Vista owed $888,908.14 on a $1,750,000.00 demand facility at RBC prime plus 3% and $125,949.37 on two credit cards, for $1,014,857.51 as at August 15, 2024. RBC held a general security agreement dated March 28, 2008 over all of Vista's personal property, and an unlimited guarantee from PatienTech, per the Orth Affidavit, Sept. 19, 2024, paras. 4–10.

The bank says its concerns began with Vista's 2021 statements, due within 90 days of year-end and delivered in October 2022. They showed the amount due to Vista from PatienTech and its subsidiaries up by nearly $1.3 million, though Vista had agreed to make no distributions to its parent without RBC's consent, and receivables of approximately $161,000 against the more than $3 million in the margin reports Vista had given the bank. On January 3, 2023, RBC sent a demarket letter giving Vista until February 28 to find a lender to pay it out. A director replied that Vista and PatienTech were entering into a transaction "with a large American company" that would fund substantial payments over time, per the Orth Affidavit, Sept. 19, 2024, paras. 11–15.

RBC signed a forbearance agreement with Vista and PatienTech on June 13, 2023: US$500,000 up front, minimum payments of $25,000 a month from July 1, 2023, and the balance by January 31, 2025. Vista made the initial payment, then "insisted the first Monthly Payment be halved to $12,500.00," which RBC accepted "in a show of good faith." The 2022 statements, received in December 2023, showed the amount due from PatienTech up by another $819,387. Vista missed the May 1, 2024 payment and, per the affidavit, paid nothing after it; RBC terminated the forbearance effective June 8, per the Orth Affidavit, Sept. 19, 2024, paras. 16–22. Internal reporting to June 30, 2024 put receivables at $474,315, down from about $3.2 million in March. Vista told the bank a contract had been cancelled; the affiant says the drop "in all events strengthens RBC's concerns over the reliability and accuracy of the financial or operational picture it is receiving from Vista," per the Orth Affidavit, Sept. 19, 2024, para. 25.

A monitor, refused

The company's side is in the emails attached to the affidavit. On July 9, 2024, a director proposed payments on a "best efforts" basis through 2024, full payments again by January 31, 2025, and an assignment to the bank of 15% of any licensing, royalty or other fees paid by Serta Simmons Bedding under a licensing agreement of January 17, 2023. RBC answered that it would require "someone to come into monitor company situation." The director called that "a little extreme and costly for a US$500,000 loan," per the Orth Affidavit, Sept. 19, 2024, paras. 23–24, Ex. I, pp. 93–94.

RBC made formal demand, enclosing a notice of intention to enforce security under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, by letter dated August 19, 2024. The director's reply the next day is attached to the Orth Affidavit, Sept. 19, 2024, para. 26, Ex. I, pp. 89–90:

To us the monitor requirement is pointless as well as a waste of scarce resources. We have successfully run this business for over 20 years. Vista is the leading provider of pressure mapping systems world-wide. Our Smart Bed Technology is the acknowledged industry standard. A novice looking over our shoulders is a distraction.

Vista's difficulties, he wrote, were "due solely to Serta's delays as they churn through 4 CEO's in one year," events "beyond our control." He also set out what the company owned: "Vista's sole assets are its customers, its know-how and the Serta Agreement, none of which can be foreclosed on or resold," per the Orth Affidavit, Sept. 19, 2024, Ex. I, p. 90.

RBC said it had "lost faith in the willingness and ability of Vista's management to address its obligations," per the Orth Affidavit, Sept. 19, 2024, para. 27. Justice Grammond heard the application on October 4, 2024, with no one appearing for Vista, and appointed MNP Ltd. receiver under s. 243(1) of the BIA and s. 55 of The Court of King's Bench Act. The order let the receiver borrow up to $200,000 on a charge ranking ahead of all security but the receiver's own charge and the statutory priorities, and sell property without the court's approval in any transaction up to $100,000, per the Receivership Order, Oct. 4, 2024, paras. 2, 3(l), 21.

A lockout, and a licence that ended

The landlord terminated the lease on October 3, 2024, the day before the order, per the Notice and Statement of Receiver, Oct. 29, 2024, p. 1. Vista had stopped operating when the landlord, bcIMC Realty Corporation, locked it out, and its production equipment and office furnishings had been distrained. A director told the receiver that before the lockout some equipment and books had gone to Globe Moving & Storage Ltd. in Winnipeg, where McDougall valued them at approximately $500, less than the storage fees Globe was claiming. The receiver administered Wage Earner Protection Program claims for approximately 35 former employees, per the First Report, Aug. 18, 2026, paras. 7, 17–20, 26(b), 38.

The receiver's larger constraint was an Intellectual Property License Agreement dated June 20, 2018, under which PatienTech is "the sole owner of all intellectual property underlying the Company's core business, including patents, the 'BodiTrak' trademark, know-how, software, and proprietary pressure mapping technology." Vista held a non-exclusive licence, "stated to automatically terminate upon the appointment of the Receiver." Because a buyer could not likely carry on the business without PatienTech's cooperation, MNP concluded it could not realize on goodwill or going-concern value, which "materially reduced both the pool of potential purchasers and the sale price ultimately achievable." Vista's domains, websites and licences had lapsed or were about to, per the First Report, Aug. 18, 2026, paras. 24–25.