Bridging Finance investors face minimum of $580M loss: Receiver

Investors who put money into Bridging Finance may be left with 65 cents on the dollar, if not less, according to the beleaguered lender’s court-appointed receiver.

Investors who put money into Bridging Finance may be left with 65 cents on the dollar, if not less, according to the beleaguered lender’s court-appointed receiver.

In documents filed with the Ontario Superior Court on Wednesday, PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. (PwC) – which inherited responsibility for Bridging after it was rushed into receivership in the spring – said the lender’s losses attributed to unitholders could be about $580 million, roughly 36 per cent of the $1.6 billion the firm lent out.   

PwC noted that the $580-million figure was subject to change, and estimated the total loss to unitholders may ultimately be higher than that figure.

Bridging had accumulated funds from about 26,000 investors, the vast majority of whom were retail buyers. 

While Bridging had about $2 billion in assets under management, it did hold a sizable cash position, with $282.3 million and US$115 million on the books as of Dec. 3, according to the receiver.

PwC also included an update on its efforts to sell the company, either in full or on a piecemeal basis, disclosing 14 bidders advanced to the second stage of bidding. Of those interested suitors, 11 submitted final bids. Four of those bids were for substantially all of the business, while the remainder were for “individual or certain specified assets.” Some of those bids require further due diligence, according to the receiver.