A B.C. bus and truck maker in receivership owes $69 million, half of it to the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and Export Development Canada (EDC), and the rest to a long list of foreign and domestic businesses.
A tally of creditors published by receiver FTI Consulting Canada Inc. shows Vicinity Motor Corp, which got its start supplying buses to BC Transit around 2008, owes $22.4 million to the bank and $11.9 million to EDC, the federal agency that provides assistance to Canadian companies trying to expand into international markets.
Both are the only secured creditors listed, meaning they have the right to be paid before any of the others on the list.
Unsecured creditors include several individuals associated with a Canadian Investment firm, Leede Jones Gable Inc., that, in total, are owed close to $15 million, as well as a bus chassis manufacturer in Turkey, Guleryuz Otobus Fabrikasi, that is owed more than $3 million, and a Chinese bus and coach builder, Xiamen Fengtai Bus and Coach International Co. Ltd., owed $3 million, and an automotive engineering company in India, Hinduja Tech Ltd. owed more than $1 million (all amounts are in Canadian dollars).
Two Langley companies, Chohan Equity Group Ltd., which is owed $766,000, and Chohan Property Group Ltd., owed $875,000, give addresses a few blocks away from the Vicinity administration office and storage yards at 262 St. and 31B Ave.
When Vicinity was placed under receivership in October, its entire board of directors, including CEO and founder William Trainer, resigned.
Under receivership, a secured creditor or the court appoints a receiver to take control of a business's assets and sell them to repay a loan.
FTI Consulting Canada Inc. was appointed receiver and manager of the company, and obtained a court order from a Seattle bankruptcy court judge in November that also takes control of Vicinity's U.S. assets, which include a 香蕉视频直播淏uy America compliant香蕉视频直播� vehicle assembly facility in Ferndale, Wash.
Vicinity was delisted by the U.S.-based NASDAQ stock exchange, because its shares fell below the minimum bid price requirement of $1.
It was one of two delisting orders from NASDAQ, the other in response to the company going into receivership.
As well, cease trade orders were issued against Vicinity, including one from the British Columbia Securities Commission.
Established in 2008, the company, initially called Grande West, was formed to meet a request for smaller and mid-size buses from B.C. Transit by building a low floor, heavy-duty, mid-sized model.
Vicinity is based in a 32,000-sq.-ft. facility, on 2.5 acres in Aldergrove, that includes the corporate headquarters and an assembly plant.
As of Friday, Dec. 6, the company website remained offline, and the main gate to the company headquarters in Aldergrove had been padlocked. There was no response to queries emailed by the Langley Advance Times to Vicinity managers.
