Xela Enterprises

Xela Enterprises, a Toronto, Ontario-based holding company with a wide range of commercial ventures in Canada, the United States and South and Central America, was placed in receivership on July 5 on application by Margarita Castillo. The receivership order is the culmination of Castillo's attempts to obtain relief from alleged oppression by her late father, Juan Arturo Gutierrez, and brother, Juan Guillermo Gutierrez. Castillo was awarded a judgment of over $5.0MM in 2015 for allegedly being pushed out of the family business but has been thwarted at every turn in her attempts to collect the remaining $3.5MM owed to her. Xela has repeatedly refused to answer questions about the operations of its subsidiaries, though there is no dispute that it indirectly owns shares in what is considered one of Central America's largest poultry producers. These shares are estimated to be worth millions of dollars, but the business is ensnared in litigation with other family members in Guatemala (the "Cousins"). The receivership order was granted over a competing CCAA application by Xela, which argued that it was insolvent as a result of, among other things, the Cousins' withholding of hundreds of millions of dollars of dividends from the poultry business. KSV was appointed receiver. Counsel is Bennett Jones for the applicant, Groia & Company for the company and Aird & Berlis for the receiver.