Great Slave Helicopters (GSH), one of Canada’s largest onshore helicopter operators, has filed for creditor protection after amassing concurrent-year, multimillion-dollar losses. Yesterday, the operator announced that an Ontario court had granted it relief under the nation’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), which allows it to avoid repaying creditors and conduct a court-supervised sale and investment solicitation process as an alternative to straight bankruptcy.
GSH’s total debt is believed to top $100 million, and the company said it lost $13.7 million from operations over the past two years. It operates a mixed fleet of 51 owned and leased helicopters and employs 250.
CCAA protection also provides limited relief against creditors for GSH’s parent corporation, 10671541 Canada Inc., and affiliate companies Air Tindi and Discovery Mining Services. Great Slave attributed its financial distress to high maintenance costs and decreases in its energy, mining, and charter-related businesses, coupled with the unwillingness of at least one major creditor, Clairvest Group, to provide additional financing.
In a statement to the court, the company said it has been working to restructure its business and requires additional financing to cover operating losses and remain a going concern. Absent that, the business and/or its assets need to be sold “in an orderly manner [that] is best facilitated through court-supervised proceedings.” In March, GSH’s former parent corporation, Discovery Air, was itself granted CCAA protection and via that process sold its shares in GSH to affiliates of Clairvest in mid-August.
Great Slave Helicopters (GSH), one of Canada’s largest onshore helicopter operators, has filed for creditor protection after amassing concurrent-year, multimillion-dollar losses. The operator announced on September 4 that an Ontario court had granted it relief under the nation’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), which allows it to avoid repaying creditors and conduct a court-supervised sale and investment solicitation process as an alternative to straight bankruptcy.
GSH’s total debt is believed to top $100 million, and the company said it lost $13.7 million from operations over the past two years. It operates a mixed fleet of 51 owned and leased helicopters and employs 250.
CCAA protection also provides limited relief against creditors for GSH’s parent corporation, 10671541 Canada Inc., and affiliate companies Air Tindi and Discovery Mining Services. Great Slave attributed its financial distress to high maintenance costs and decreases in its energy, mining, and charter-related businesses, coupled with the unwillingness of at least one major creditor, Clairvest Group, to provide additional financing.
In a statement to the court, the company said it has been working to restructure its business and requires additional financing to cover operating losses and remain a going concern. Absent that, the business and/or its assets need to be sold “in an orderly manner [that] is best facilitated through court-supervised proceedings.” In March, GSH’s former parent corporation, Discovery Air, was itself granted CCAA protection and via that process sold its shares in GSH to affiliates of Clairvest in mid-August.