Risley’s Halifax mansion on the market for $14.9M as investment firm faces shakeup
CBC
Nova Scotia businessman John Risley’s luxury oceanfront mansion in Halifax has been put on the market for $14.9 million, a move that comes as the former seafood baron’s investment firm is ensnared by huge debt and faces significant restructuring.
The 10,000-square-foot home, which was built around 2017 and is owned by a separate holding company Risley heads, was listed for sale this week. It is located deep in the city’s south end, near Point Pleasant Park, and overlooks the Northwest Arm.
Risley did not reply to questions about why he is selling the home, and whether it relates to the financial problems faced by CFFI Ventures Inc., the investment firm he controls that obtained a court order earlier this month to keep creditors at bay.
In Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Friday, Justice John Keith agreed to adjourn until mid-March the restructuring case involving CFFI Ventures, which includes a plan to transfer ownership to a New York-based investment firm.
CFFI Ventures owns or has invested in a myriad of companies, ranging from energy to space technology to skin care. It has been attempting to pay down its debts, including by selling off artwork and aircraft it owns.
Risley, 77, is best known as the co-founder of Clearwater Seafoods, which he sold in 2021, but he also earned his fortune in the communications and nutrition sectors.
He is also known as an art collector. By 2023, he had roughly 300 works by the famed Nova Scotia folk artist Maud Lewis, some of whose paintings adorn the walls of the Halifax house now for sale.
The listing for the home notes it is by well-known designer Philip Mitchell and says it has “exceptional grace and distinction.” Among the features highlighted are reclaimed wood floors from Montana, a terraced backyard and high-end light fixtures and appliances.
Among the lawyers in court Friday for the CFFI Ventures case were two representing the Canada Revenue Agency. Court filings indicate CFFI Ventures is disputing $331 million the CRA claims is owed in taxes, interest and penalties following a number of reassessments.
The restructuring plan put forward by CFFI Ventures is for ownership to be transferred to HPS Investment Partners LLC. The firm had arranged a $250-million US loan to CFFI Ventures in 2017, but within roughly two years it was accruing interest at a rate of 20 per cent.
Interest has been added to the principal, and CFFI Ventures now owes the HPS lenders roughly $776 million US, or more than $1 billion Cdn.
A spokesperson for HPS said Friday it would not be commenting. Marc Wasserman, a Toronto lawyer representing HPS, declined to comment. Stephen Kingston, the Halifax lawyer representing CFFI Ventures, declined to comment outside the courtroom Friday.
Risley’s Halifax home is also one of a number of assets, including a mansion in Chester, N.S., at the heart of a personal income tax battle he has waged with the CRA, which has asserted he received benefits from his companies that were not declared as income.
Risley has appealed three separate reassessments. The Toronto law firm that had represented him withdrew recently, citing unpaid invoices, but the hearings on two of the appeals are still scheduled for May and Risley has said he is now represented by a Halifax law firm.
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