On September 9, 2019, Stornoway Diamond Corporation, Stornoway Diamonds Canada Inc., Ashton Mining of Canada Inc., and FCDC Sales and Marketing Inc. sought and obtained an Initial Order under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act from the Superior Court of Quebec.
The CCAA Parties’ main operating asset was the Renard Mine, Quebec’s first diamond mine, located approximately 250 km north of the Cree community of Mistissini in the James Bay region of north-central Quebec. As of the issuance of the Initial Order, the CCAA Parties had combined indebtedness of over 660 million. On October 7, 2019, the Court issued an Approval and Vesting Order approving a reorganization transaction whereby the shares of one of the reorganized CCAA Parties, holding the Renard Mine, would be assigned to the CCAA Parties’ first-ranking secured creditors, i.e. a group known as the “Streamers” (comprising notably the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec and Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd.) and Investissement Quebec.
This matter was unique in the structure of the transaction approved by the Court, whereby certain secured creditors obtained ownership of Renard Mine, while preserving fiscal attributes and vesting out the liabilities affecting the assets, all without a plan of arrangement. As counsel to the Monitor, Osler advised on this novel transaction structure, opined on the security of secured creditors, including on the first and only diamond streaming security in Quebec, and addressed various issues over the course of the CCAA Proceedings. The Monitor’s involvement was instrumental to having the transaction approved by the Court.
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP advised Deloitte Restructuring Inc. with a team consisting of Sandra Abitan, Julien Morissette, Ilia Kravstov, Andrea Lockhart (Insolvency and Restructuring); Constantine Troulis, Martha Martindale (Banking and Financial Services); Mary Angela Rowe (Research).