Bridging Finance Redemption Claimants Portal

Aird & Berlis LLP (“A&B”) is pleased to have been appointed by The Honourable Geoffrey B. Morawetz, Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario, as Independent Representative Counsel (“Representative Counsel”) for a sub-set of certain unitholders of funds managed by Bridging Finance Inc. (“Unitholders”). Specifically, A&B has been appointed to act as Representative Counsel for Unitholders located outside of Québec with contractual rights of redemption arising from unfulfilled redemption requests (the “Redemption Claimants”). ”). You can read the entirety of C.J. Morawetz’s Representative Counsel Appointment Order (Re: Unitholder Priority Motion), here. For clarity, if you are an eligible Redemption Claimant, you do not need to do anything further in order for A&B to act as Representative Counsel for your eligible claims.

This webpage serves as the Redemption Claimants Portal Home, where A&B in its capacity as Representative Counsel to the Redemption Claimants will be posting public notices, reports, and other information available regarding its activities. You may also register with us as a Redemption Claimant in order to gain access to the Client Portal, where you will have convenient and immediate access to confidential notices, reports, and other key information. If you wish to gain access to the Client Portal, please register through the Redemption Claimant Form, and follow the instructions below.

If you choose not to register for access to the Client Portal, we will not be sending you copies of the confidential notices, reports, and other key information posted in the Client Portal, through mail or otherwise. Unfortunately, due to the large number of Unitholders making claims, this information will be available only through the Client Portal.

Please note that anything posted publicly on this webpage is for informational purposes only, and you should consult your legal counsel or financial adviser if you have any questions or need clarification as to your rights.

Background

On April 30, 2021, an application was brought before the Commercial List of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice by the Ontario Securities Commission (the “Applicant” or the “Commission”) in respect of each Bridging Finance Inc., Bridging Income Fund LP, Bridging Mid-Market Debt Fund LP, SB Fund GP Inc., Bridging Finance GP Inc., Bridging Income RSP Fund, Bridging Mid-Market Debt RSP Fund, Bridging Private Debt Institutional LP, Bridging Real Estate Lending Fund LP, Bridging SMA 1 LP, Bridging Infrastructure Fund LP, Bridging MJ GP Inc., Bridging Indigenous Impact Fund, and Bridging Fern Alternative Credit Fund (collectively, “Bridging Finance”) pursuant to section 129 of the Securities Act (Ontario), R.S.O. 1990, c. S. 5, as amended (the “Application”).

The Honourable Justice Hainey granted an Order and appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc., LIT (“PwC”) as receiver and manager (the “Receiver”), without security, of all of the assets, undertaking and properties of Bridging Finance. Further information on the Receiver’s activities can be found in its reports published here.

In the Receiver’s Tenth Report dated February 18, 2022 (“Tenth Report”), the Receiver concluded that the nature and priority of the Potential Intra-Unitholders Claims would have to be determined prior to the Initial Distribution, any distribution under the Cash Proposal, and also prior to the closing of the Investment Proposal. The Receiver recommended that these issues be addressed at an Intra-Unitholder Motion, where the priority of any Potential Intra-Unitholder Claims and related issues could be determined (all as defined in the Tenth Report).

Accordingly, Chief Justice Morawetz directed that independent counsel be appointed in order to advance the interests of certain Unitholders asserting Potential Intra-Unitholder Claims at such an Intra-Unitholder Motion. On April 13, 2022, the Receiver provided Notice to Representative Counsel Applicants regarding the Appointment Process for three groups of Unitholders: a) Misrepresentation Claimants; b) Redemption Claimants; and c) Québec Claimants (the “Intra-Unitholder Groups”). More information on the Appointment Process and the Written Proposals can be found in the Notice. The Honourable Todd L. Archibald was appointed as the independent third party to assess all Written Proposals, and was tasked with recommending firms to be appointed as Independent Representative Counsel for the three Intra-Unitholder Groups. More information on the evaluation process, key factors, and summary of recommendations can be found in The Honourable Todd L. Archibald’s Memo to Chief Justice Morawetz dated May 4, 2022, here.

Aird & Berlis LLP was pleased to submit its Written Proposal for the appointment of Representative Counsel to the Redemption Claimants, and is delighted that The Honourable Todd L. Archibald recognized how A&B’s diverse expertise, renowned experience, and effective counsel would best serve the Redemption Claimants’ interests at an Intra-Unitholder Motion.

Registration for access to the Client Portal

If you wish to gain access to the Client Portal so you may receive pertinent information from your Representative Counsel with respect to your rights, obligations, and participation in the proceeding, you must first be verified as a Redemption Claimant.

To do so, you mustfirst register through the Redemption Claimant Form, which you may access by clicking here. You will be asked general information about your registered unit holdings so we may verify your eligibility as a Redemption Claimant. Once you have registered, you will receive email confirmation as a record of your registration. However, this does not mean your registration has been verified. Once you have submitted your Redemption Claimant Form, we will conduct an initial assessment of your Redemption Claimant Form, and seek to verify your registration details and eligibility as a Redemption Claimant.  

Once we have conducted an initial assessment, you will receive further correspondence from us, as follows:

• If we require further information, you will receive email correspondence from us titled “ATTN: Information Required – Redemption Claimant”, which will require your prompt response; or

• If your registration is verified, you will receive email correspondence titled “ATTN: Registration as Redemption Claimant Verified”, which will include instructions on how to authenticate your account and login to the Client Portal.

Once authenticated, you will have access to all notices, reports, and other confidential information that your Representative Counsel will be sharing with all Verified Redemption Claimants. The Client Portal will also provide you access to a private folder unique to your registration, which you may use to share records and other private information directly with your Representative Counsel.

Please continue to check this webpage for further updates, as we will be posting more information in the coming weeks. Should you have any questions regarding any of the above, please contact us directly at bridgingrepresentativecounsel@airdberlis.com. For a list of frequently asked questions, please click here.