Edmonton City Centre Mall (ECC) was recently ordered into receivership by the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta for failing to repay loans in excess of $139 million. Read More
Edmonton City Centre Mall (ECC) was recently ordered into receivership by the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta for failing to repay loans in excess of $139 million. In an order filed on July 8, the court appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. (PWC) as the receiver for the mall and its affiliated owners after failing to repay
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Edmonton City Centre Mall (ECC) was recently ordered into receivership by the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta for failing to repay loans in excess of $139 million.
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In an order filed on July 8, the court appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. (PWC) as the receiver for the mall and its affiliated owners after failing to repay a loan it secured in 2019. The mall languished over the past several years, with large anchor stores exiting the facility. With the mall now in receivership, here’s what we learned from the court documents of the order.
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Over $155 million owed for two loans
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Although retail around the world was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, the mall’s troubles seem to have started prior.
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Court documents for the receivership show that an investment group out of Montreal, Otéra Capital Inc. (now La Caisse), signed a commitment letter with the ECC as a borrower on Aug. 30, 2019 for a pair of loans worth $155,500,000. The lion’s share was a term loan facility of $128,500,000, with a subsequent “multiple advance loan facility” with an aggregate amount of $27 million.
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The terms of the commitment letter included, among other things, that the ECC would maintain specific financial responsibilities to Otéra, such as a specific debt-service coverage ratio, provide detailed financial statements, and that if a default happened and continued, payment would be immediately due.
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The first few years of the loan seem to have been managed by ECC, but the first defaults on the respective loans happened on Dec. 1, 2024, followed by consecutive defaults on Jan. 1 and Feb. 1 of this year, at which point Otéra and ECC agreed to a forbearance agreement, which stopped any enforcement actions from Otéra provided there were no further defaults from ECC. The agreement bought some time for ECC, but around mid-June, Otéra demanded through its counsel that the ECC pay the investment group.
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The statement of claim indicates that according to Otéra, as of June 1, ECC still owed $139,508,037.26, plus accruing interest, costs, and other expenses.
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ECC includes more than just the mall
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The court order for receivership is for Edmonton City Centre Inc., which is the legal and registered owner of roughly 1.4 million square feet of retail and office space that includes TD Tower (10088 102 Ave.), 102A Tower (10025 102A Ave.), Centre Point Place (10205 101 St.), and the City Centre Mall.