Nearly three years after it exited creditor protection following its 2021-2022 insolvency, the sale of Laurentian University real estate assets to the Province of Ontario that are to fund payouts to its creditors is scheduled to be completed this week.
The university officially exited its unprecedented journey under the Companies Creditors’ Arrangement Act (or CCAA) in late 2022, but it still owed millions of dollars to its creditors as a result of the process.
An internal memo from Laurentian forwarded to Sudbury.com by communications staff said the sales process is “scheduled to be completed on Aug. 28, 2025.”
“This is a critical and necessary step in implementing the Plan of Arrangement negotiated with creditors and in exiting the CCAA process,” said the memo.
The real estate assets in question include Laurentian’s East Residence, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine/Health Sciences Building, Security and Maintenance Building with parking lots 2 & 3, Parking lot 15 (the “Pit”), with the exclusion of the Apology Cairn site, Willet Green Miller Centre (land only) and vacant adjacent lands, additional institutional lands (adjacent to NOSM U–South Bay Road) and the Vale Living with Lakes Centre and Watershed Building.
The sale of the Living With Lakes Centre was previously completed last December, with an $8-million pricetag.
The university memo said an agreement to lease three properties back from the province has also been finalized.
“This will allow Laurentian University to continue to benefit from the use of the facilities and to support financial stability with certainty of costs moving forward,” said the press release. "No changes are expected to the way in which our community uses these facilities.”
Sudbury.com requested an interview with Laurentian president Lynn Wells on the land sales, but communications staff said she was “not available to support an interview on the topic.”
However, the Aug. 28 memo did include a quote attributed to Wells.
“The completion of the sale of real estate assets to the province is a critical step in enabling Laurentian University to complete the requirements of the CCAA process,” said Wells, in the memo.
“With this sale completed ahead of schedule, we will be able to execute the final steps in the process and begin a new chapter in December 2025, a major milestone in Laurentian’s 65-year history.”
Laurentian’s 2022 post-insolvency plan of arrangement states that a pool of cash of up to $53.5 million for creditors — which includes former LU employees — is to come from the sale of university real estate to the Province of Ontario.
The minimum floor for the pool of cash was set at $45.5 million. If Laurentian doesn’t fund the creditors’ distribution pool to at least that amount by Nov. 28, 2025, the university will have defaulted (although they have the option to apply for a one-year reprieve).
Creditors will only receive a small percentage of what they were originally owed, up to 24 cents on the dollar.
But it sounds like creditors will be getting the maximum amount allowed for in Laurentian’s plan of arrangement, as outlined above.
The Laurentian University Faculty Association (LUFA) said in recent discussions with Laurentian and the university’s insolvency monitor they learned the “proceeds should be sufficient to fund the maximum distribution pool amount.”
“The monitor is working to finalize contingent claim amounts so the distribution process can begin as soon as possible,” said an Aug. 28 email from LUFA.
Sudbury.com was able to reach LUFA president Fabrice Colin to get his comments on these developments.
Colin said this is “good news” in that creditors will receive the maximum amount allowed for in the plan of arrangement.
While the deadline to compensate creditors is Nov. 28, Colin said he expects the money to start to flow to creditors within the next few weeks.
However, it’s also a reminder of the “sacrifices” that were made by university employees who were terminated as part of the CCAA process, which was a “cruel” time for the community.
“But at least it's good to know it has been completed,” Colin said.
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.
