Vancouver Sun
VANCOUVER — The financially troubled businesses behind the cancelled Pemberton Music Festival might owe ticket holders and other creditors more than $16.7 million, according to documents obtained by Postmedia.
Pemberton Music Festival Limited Partnership, which along with 1115666 B.C. Ltd. filed for bankruptcy Thursday afternoon, has $6.6 million in assets but owes $10.1 million, according to a statement of affairs provided by the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada.
The debtors’ liabilities total $16.74 million, including more than $8.2 million owed to 2017 ticketholders, according to the 11-page document.
Among 120 unsecured creditors listed, the Canada Revenue Agency is owed close to $1.7 million, the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada is owed $373,016 and caterer Truffle Fine Foods is owed $139,522.
The creditors will need to provide supporting documentation to prove these claims.
About two dozen claimants are based in the U.S., including a charter-bus firm owed $577,547 and an event-production company owed $241,873.
Many more are small Pemberton and Whistler firms and residents with claims of less than $10,000.
And a pair of secured creditors — 1644609 Alberta Ltd. and Janspec Holdings Ltd. — with claims totalling close to $3.6 million if proven, will be paid in full before any of the unsecured creditors. Deposits to artists totalling more than $1.9 million are listed as the debtor’s property and considered among its $6.6 million in assets.
According to a fact sheet posted on the website of Ernst & Young, which has been appointed trustee in the bankruptcies, the festival has been significantly affected over the past two years by the weak Canadian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar because artists are paid in U.S. dollars. Difficulty finding talent this year due to a limited number of artists touring was also blamed.
The document says the festival “incurred significant losses in each of the previous three years” and that the 2017 festival had earned $8.225 million in revenue by May 18 while budgeted expenses had hit $22 million.
The festival continued selling tickets until the moment organizers announced that they had gone into bankruptcy Thursday.
Ticketholders, who paid anywhere from $299 for general admission up to $1,799 for “Super VIP” passes, were advised by Ernst & Young that there would be no automatic refunds. They will need to file a proof of claim as unsecured creditors with Ernst & Young or contact their bank or credit card issuer to determine whether there’s any way they’ll get their money back.
1115666 B.C. Ltd., a general partner acting on behalf of Pemberton Music Festival Limited Partnership, was incorporated on April 19 and directors from the company’s board ceased being directors on May 17, according to a notice of change of directors filed Wednesday evening with B.C. Registry Services.
Those directors are publicly listed as James A. Dales and Amanda J. Girling, both registered at the same downtown Vancouver address, and Stephane Lescure, registered at a California address. The former directors confirmed that the decision to cancel the festival was made Wednesday at 7:45 p.m.
