Quebec real estate developer Stéphan Huot capitulates. He is personally protecting himself from his creditors for debts totaling a whopping nearly $1.2 billion.
• Also read: Other buildings linked to the Huot Group are protected from their creditors
• Also read: Mach Group intends to purchase Huot Group’s rental complexes
• Also read: “He has nothing left”: It’s the end of Stéphan Huot’s real estate empire
Stéphan Huot, whose business empire has completely collapsed, filed a notice of intent to file a proposal under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Code on Thursday, according to documents seen by our Bureau of Investigation.
The extent of the developer’s debts, which amount to 1.179 billion, makes this bankruptcy case one of the largest in dollar terms in the entire history of Quebec (see below).
The list of creditors filed in the filing shows Huot owed $253 million to Toronto-based Timbercreek Mortgage Servicing, $164.5 million to Manulife Bank of Canada, $127.7 million to Portage Capital and $120 million -$ to SH Real Estate Fund is owed to Q-12 Capital, $92.3 million to Laurentian Bank and $80.3 million to financial institution CMLS.
business people
Well-known businessmen from the Quebec region are also making financial claims against him.
This is particularly true for Michel Cadrin, to whom Huot is nearly $40 million in debt across two companies.
Huot owes $19 million to investor Daniel Fortier, who served as his endorser, and more than $2 million to Gaston Paradis and a management company on his behalf.
For his part, a lawyer from the law firm De Grandpré Chait, Me Eric Lasry, files a claim for $2.25 million.
In the middle of a debacle
Stéphan Huot and his company with almost 700 employees have had to accept setbacks since the beginning of the year.
In particular, the businessman has lost several real estate complexes with a total of thousands of apartments in recent months.
Huot Group subsidiaries, including Millenum Construction and Airmedic, also filed for bankruptcy last June and July, respectively.
Last April, our Bureau of Investigation reported that 90 millionaires, including 75 from the capital region and 15 from the Montreal region, are racing to get back the colossal sums they had loaned to the Huot group.
According to our information, these investors were promised incredible returns of up to 12%.
Stéphan Huot was contacted by our investigations office on Friday and did not want to comment on the file.
More infamous bankruptcy cases
At nearly $1.2 billion, Stéphan Huot’s debts represent one of the largest bankruptcy cases in Quebec history. Here are other cases of entrepreneurs and business leaders whose sums at stake captured the imagination when they filed for bankruptcy .
Real Bouclin
A week ago, the president of Groupe Sélection, Réal Bouclin, placed himself under the protection of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Code. He claims he owes his creditors more than $160 million. In November 2022, his company had made similar moves with $904 million in debt.
Ronen and Baruch Basal
Ronen Basal, who was at the helm of around 10 large rental apartment buildings in the greater Montreal area, admitted to our investigative agency last January that he was on the brink of collapse. As part of a proposal to his creditors, he finally declared debts of $164.7 million in early August. His father Baruch has a negative balance of $140 million.
Tony Accurso
The decline of developer Tony Accurso, the reluctant star of the Charbonneau Commission, has been well documented for a decade. Last year, he reported $107 million in personal debts when he filed for bankruptcy. Considering that in his heyday he ran a 4,500-employee empire whose annual sales were nearly a billion dollars…
Yanai Elbaz
Former McGill University Health Center (MUHC) deputy director Yanai Elbaz owed a staggering $1.1 billion when he filed for bankruptcy in 2020. But that’s largely because his former employer demanded $1 billion from him in court because of the corruption fraud Elbaz was guilty of a few years earlier.
Raymond Malenfant
Hotelier Raymond Malenfant, who died in January 2022 at the age of 91, suffered a spectacular bankruptcy of almost 145 million in 1993. He previously managed a real estate portfolio of 400 million, which notably included the Manoir Richelieu and the Jacques-Cartier complex, in Quebec.
– In collaboration with Philippe Langlois
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