Already holding hundreds of millions of dollars in mortgages that are currently tied up in insolvency proceedings, Toronto-based private equity real estate investment firm KingSett Capital recently initiated two more receivership proceedings in British Columbia, adding to an already-extensive list.
According to filings in the Supreme Court of British Columbia obtained by STOREYS, both receivership applications were filed on April 4. One is against the owner of 12090 104 Avenue in the Scott Road corridor of Surrey, while the other is against the owner of 15 W Cordova Street in the Gastown neighbourhood of Vancouver.
12090 104 Avenue
Located at 12090 104 Avenue in Surrey, about half a block east of Scott Road, is a 5.68-acre industrial property. The registered owner of the property is 1046089 BC Ltd., who entered into a first-ranking mortgage agreement with KingSett Capital on March 1, 2022 for the principal amount of $14,000,000. The interest rate of the loan was set at the RBC Prime Rate + 4.55% per annum, with a floor rate of 7%.
The guarantors of the loan were Nirmal Singh Bains and Satnam Singh Bains, both of whom were listed as respondents alongside Bains Brothers Holding Inc.
According to KingSett Capital, the borrowers failed to make their interest payment on December 1, 2024, defaulting on the loan.
The two sides have been unable to remedy the default, prompting KingSett to issue a formal demand letter on March 14, followed by the receivership application on April 4, in which they claimed to be owed $14,607,146.89 as of April 3, with interest accruing at a daily rate of $3,785.06.
As of April 16, the receivership application has yet to be approved by the Supreme Court. The property, valued by BC Assessment at $29,609,000, will likely go through a court-ordered sales process.
15 W Cordova Street
Located at 15 W Cordova Street in Vancouver is then a narrow commercial building originally constructed in 1920. The registered owner of the property is 1069016 BC Ltd., who entered into a first-ranking mortgage agreement with KingSett Capital on June 9, 2020 — later amended on several occasions — for the principal amount of $4,160,000. The interest rate of the loan was set at the RBC Prime Rate + 2.25% per annum, with a floor rate of 9.45%.
The guarantors of the loan were Manoj Sikka, Mark Joseph Catroppa, and Samira Perera, all of whom were listed as respondents alongside 1183011 BC Ltd.
15 W Cordova Street (centre) in Vancouver. / Colliers
According to KingSett Capital, the borrowers failed to make their interest payment on December 1, 2024, defaulting on the loan. Since then, the two sides have also been working on remedying the default, with no success. KingSett issued a formal Notice of Default on February 10, then a formal demand letter on March 7, before filing the receivership application on April 4, in which they claim to be owed $4,339,747.24 as of April 3, with interest accruing at a daily rate of $1,119.81.
As of April 16, this receivership application has also not been approved by the Supreme Court, but 15 W Cordova Street was listed for sale by Casey Weeks, Morgan Iannone, Mike Grewal, and Dylan Sohi of Colliers last month with an asking price of $4,900,000. BC Assessment values the property at $4,188,500.
KingSett Capital
The two latest receivership applications add to an already-extensive list of receivership proceedings KingSett Capital has initiated over the past two years, across both British Columbia and Ontario. Notably, they have been a big lender in some of the largest multi-project insolvencies in both provinces.
Two years ago this month, KingSett Capital and Dorr Capital initiated receivership proceedings against Ontario's Stateview Homes, claiming they were owed $167,826,634.78 and $4,000,592.77, respectively, with the amount owed to KingSett tied to six separate loans. Since then, several of the projects have been sold and the Receiver says in its most recent report, dated November 2024, that KingSett Capital was owed just $17.8 million.
In November 2023, KingSett Capital and Dorr Capital then initiated receivership proceedings against Ontario's Vandyk Group, claiming they were owed approximately $203 million pertaining to five projects. KingSett Capital is now working on completing three of the five projects, while the remaining two are going through a court-ordered sales process.
In February 2024, KingSett Capital then initiated receivership proceedings against Moldenhauer Corporation, claiming they were owned $147,852,782.89, $172,742,011.24, and $35,252,643.84 pertaining to three industrial properties in Mississauga that total to 212.65 acres of land. In a report his month, the Receiver said that there have been failed attempts to sell the properties and that KingSett is now working with the borrower to complete the project that was envisioned for one of the properties.
In March 2024, KingSett Capital initiated receivership proceedings against Pace Developments, claiming they were owed $47,099,842.63 pertaining to their Urban North Townhomes project in Barrie. The project went through a court-ordered sales process and was sold to Dunsire Homes in September. (Another lender on that project was Waterloo-based MarshallZehr, who have also been involved in an extensive list of receivership proceedings.)
In June 2024, KingSett Capital and First Source Financial then initiated a receivership proceeding against Maplequest Ventures Inc. and Digram Developments Caledon Inc., claiming they were owed $47,954,224.90 and $41,250,000.00 pertaining to two projects. The court-ordered sales processes have yet to return any buyers for the properties.
A summary of KingSett Capital's mortgage lending parameters listed on its website.
That same month, KingSett Capital initiated receivership proceedings in British Columbia against the Bayrock Terrace project in Port Moody, claiming that they were owed $13,501,453.28. That project has since been sold through a court-ordered sale.
A wave of receiverships pertaining to Burnaby-based Thind Properties then came in Fall 2024, starting in October with the District Northwest project in Surrey, on which KingSett is owed $85,695,102.47. In November 2024, KingSett then initiated receivership proceedings against Thind's Minoru Square and Highline Metrotown projects, claiming they were owed $220 million. All three projects are now going through court-ordered sales processes.
Finally, in January 2025, KingSett then placed Thind's Eclipse Brentwood project under creditor protection, claiming they were owed $189 million. This project was already nearing completion at that time and KingSett has indicated that it intends to bring it to completion.
Across all of the aforementioned proceedings, including the two new ones initiated in Metro Vancouver this month and accounting for the debt recovered through some of the sales, the outstanding debt owed to KingSett Capital is approximately $1.18 billion. The total is based on the outstanding amounts KingSett Capital claimed to be owed at the time the receivership applications were filed and does not include the interest accrued thereafter.
KingSett Capital, who declined to comment, is well within its right — which is baked into loan agreements — to enforce security and initiate receivership applications when borrowers default, but their position is undoubtedly not one to be envied, particularly with a high amount of exposure to a select group of companies. Indeed, in an affidavit last year, Thind Properties Founder & CEO Daljit Thind disclosed that KingSett had communicated concern about their "overall exposure" to his company.
Few of the court-ordered sales processes have been successful, presumably due to the tough economic conditions for developers, thus KingSett has opted to instead bring many of the projects to completion, injecting more money into several of them.
The situation calls to mind the famous words of American industrialist J. Paul Getty: "If you owe the bank $100, that's your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that's the bank's problem."
