Light Speed Logistics faces fragmented receiverships as secured creditors carve up collateral

The Court of King’s Bench of Alberta has placed Light Speed Logistics Inc. under a series of parallel and asset-specific receiverships, with different secured creditors enforcing against discrete pools of collateral and separate receivers appointed to administer each mandate. Orders granted on December 5 and 8, 2025 confirmed Ernst & Young Inc. as receiver over equipment financed by National Bank of Canada, MNP Ltd. as receiver over assets subject to Business Development Bank of Canada’s security (certain equipment and all property of Light Speed Holding Inc.), and Grant Thornton Limited as receiver over accounts receivable, bank accounts, and 92 trailers subject to Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce’s security.

Light Speed Logistics is an Alberta-incorporated transportation and logistics company specializing in refrigerated trucking services across Canada and the United States. Its operations rely heavily on financed rolling stock, including tractors and refrigerated trailers, and it is supported by multiple secured lenders with intercreditor and priority agreements governing collateral allocation. Light Speed Holdings Inc., an affiliated entity, provided guarantees and pledged its own assets in support of certain facilities, particularly those advanced by NBC and BDC.

NBC’s evidence attributes the company’s collapse into enforcement to sustained covenant breaches, liquidity stress, and defaults under multiple credit facilities. These included failures to deliver audited financial statements, lapses in required insurance coverage, and defaults triggered by enforcement actions taken by CIBC

NBC also raised concerns about disputed ownership and registration of trailers, alleging inconsistencies and potential misrepresentations relating to approximately 22 trailers that management claimed were not properly subject to NBC’s security. The bank stated that these issues heightened the risk of dissipation or improper disposition of collateral if operations ceased abruptly.

BDC’s materials similarly pointed to payment defaults and cross-defaults under intercreditor arrangements, prompting it to seek court protection over its specific collateral and the assets of the holding company.

Rather than a single plenary receivership, the Court endorsed a fragmented enforcement structure reflecting negotiated priority regimes among the lenders. The receivers are required to cooperate, share information, and coordinate asset control where collateral boundaries intersect, while preserving each secured creditor’s priority rights.

Professionals involved include Miller Thomson for EY, MLT Aikins for Grant Thornton, Gowling WLG for MNP, Fasken for NBC, Blakes for CIBC and Cassels for BDC.