Shuswap houseboat company owed $13M before going into receivership, says licensed insolvency trustee

A Shuswap houseboat company that went into receivership earlier this month owed $13 million to creditors, according to online documents.

Alvarez and Marsal Canada Inc., a licensed insolvency trustee company in Vancouver, posted the documents regarding Waterway Houseboats and Vinco Holdings of Sicamous.

On June 11, a court order placed Waterway Houseboats and Vinco Holdings into receivership despite objections from the two companies.

The houseboat company had won a recent lawsuit for damages stemming from flooding in 2012, but the $2 million awarded in April to Waterway and Vinco wasn’t enough to prevent the companies from going into court-ordered receivership.

The companies, which had been seeking $10 million for property damage and business losses, said the “actual award of damages is several million dollars less than we had expected.”

WATCH (April 19, 2019): B.C. Supreme Court judge awards $2M in 2012 Sicamous flood damage lawsuit

1:15 B.C. Supreme Court judge awards $2M in 2012 Sicamous flood damage lawsuit

Waterway and Vinco said their bank, CIBC, made an application for the appointment of a receiver and that the case was to be heard in Vancouver court on June 11.

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Alvarez and Marsal said the operations of the debtors ceased effective June 11.

“Once Waterway is in receivership, company management will no longer be in control of Waterway or Waterway’s assets,” Alvarez and Marsal said before the case was heard, rightly predicting the outcome.

On its website, Alvarez and Marsal Canada listed the assets and debts of Waterway Houseboats and Vinco Holdings.

According to the documents, Waterway and Vinco were listed as having assets totalling $13.331 million:

• $33,456 in cash
• $459,085 in accounts receivable
• $243,024 in prepaid expenses
• $527,105 in inventory
• $3,127,539 in property and equipment
• $7,867,993 in property held for development

Waterway and Vinco also owed $13,392,543, the documents state:

• $7,998,025 to secured creditors (CIBC and Bank of Nova Scotia)
• $5,394,517 to unsecured creditors

The list of unsecured creditors was 12 pages in length, with most being in the $3,000 to $10,000 range.

Global News has reached out to Waterway Houseboats and Vinco Holdings for comment on the Alvarez and Marsal documents.