Miller Thomson LLP (“Miller Thomson”) has been appointed by The Honourable Geoffrey B. Morawetz, Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario (the “Court”) as Independent Representative Counsel for a sub-set of certain unitholders of funds managed by Bridging Finance Inc. (“Unitholders”), located outside of Québec with potential misrepresentation claims (the “Misrepresentation Claimants”).
The appointment is the latest development in the Court supervised Receivership proceedings of Bridging Finance Inc., Bridging Income Fund LP, Bridging Mid-Market Debt Fund LP, SB Fund GP Inc., Bridging Finance GP Inc., Bridging Income RSP Fund, Bridging Mid-Market Debt RSP Fund, Bridging Private Debt Institutional LP, Bridging Real Estate Lending Fund LP, Bridging SMA 1 LP, Bridging Infrastructure Fund LP, Bridging MJ GP Inc., Bridging Indigenous Impact Fund, and Bridging Fern Alternative Credit Fund (collectively, “Bridging Finance”) wherein PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc., LIT was appointed as receiver and manager (the “Receiver”) without security, of all of the assets, undertakings and properties of Bridging Finance pursuant to section 129 of the Securities Act (Ontario), R.S.O. 1990, c. S. 5, as amended (the “Securities Act”), following allegations of serious misconduct.
Pursuant to the direction of Chief Justice Morawetz, the Receiver’s Eleventh Report dated April 12, 2022 (“Eleventh Report”), the Receiver issued an appointment process for representative counsel for three groups of Unitholders of Bridging Finance, comprised of: a) Misrepresentation Claimants; b) Redemption Claimants; and c) Québec Claimants (the “Intra-Unitholder Groups”). The purpose is to advance the interests of certain Unitholders asserting Potential Intra-Unitholder Claims identified in its Tenth Report dated February 18, 2022, which concluded that the nature and priority of the Potential Intra-Unitholders Claims would have to be determined prior to any distribution to Unitholders. The Receiver recommended that these issues be addressed at an Intra-Unitholder Motion, where the priority of any Potential Intra-Unitholder Claims and related issues could be determined. The Honourable Todd L. Archibald was appointed as an independent third party to assess all Written Proposals, and was tasked with recommending firms to be appointed as Independent Representative Counsel for the three Intra-Unitholder Groups.
Upon submitting a Written Proposal and being interviewed by the Honourable Todd L. Archibald, Miller Thomson was selected by the Court to represent the Misrepresentation Claimants. Asim Iqbal, Gavin Finlayson, Matt Smith and Monica Faheim (Restructuring & Insolvency) of Miller Thomson will be representing the clients in the ongoing proceedings.
Our Restructuring & Insolvency Group offers thoughtful and pragmatic solutions to a wide range of parties, including lenders, creditors, insurers, trustees, receivers, and other stakeholders entangled in complex insolvency disputes. Our clients trust our knowledge and experience to help them navigate through their legal issues and achieve a favourable outcome in alignment with their business goals. Learn more about our full suite of legal services.
