Surefire Industries Limited (“Surefire”) designed, developed and manufactured custom oil and gas services drilling equipment. Surefire was based in Calgary, Alberta and employed approximately 150 individuals.
As Monitor under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, and subsequently, as Receiver and Trustee in Bankruptcy, we considered the viability of Surefire’s business, had extensive dealings with its customers in respect of title issues between them and the secured lender concerning equipment at various stages of completion and facilitated the sale of its intellectual property and capital assets.
We also considered novel issues in respect of a multi-million dollar security deposit held by its landlord as part of a pre-filing vendor take-back transaction, which led to a decision in favour of Surefire by the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench, which was upheld by the Alberta Court of Appeal. We also prepared an expert report dealing with distributions made to Surefire’s shareholders in the year before it commenced formal proceedings.