The receiver of failed fund manager Stableview Asset Management Inc. is seeking to make a final distribution to investors, and to wrap up the receivership.
Back in 2020, at the behest of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), the Ontario Superior Court of Justice appointed Grant Thornton Ltd. to oversee Stableview — a fund manager, portfolio manager and exempt market dealer — amid compliance concerns that the regulator uncovered in a review the firm.
In mid-2022, the OSC settled with Stableview and its founder, Colin Fisher, who admitted to breaching securities rules by investing a large share of investors’ assets in a thinly traded penny stock, and misleading investors. To settle the allegations, they agreed to $1.3 million in penalties, disgorgement and costs, among other sanctions.
Now, in its latest report to the court, the receiver is seeking approval for a final distribution to investors, and to secure a discharge from the assignment, among other things.
In March, the court approved a distribution to investors that resulted in most of the assets that were recovered in the receivership being paid out to investors. Around $300,000 was held back to cover outstanding fees and expenses for running the receivership, but having largely completed its work, the receiver is now seeking to make a final distribution of $200,000 to investors.
According to the report, as part of the receivership, almost $13.7 million in cash and stock has been returned to investors in one of its pooled funds — which represented about 90% of the capital they invested in the fund. Investors in its other fund only received just under $9,000 — representing its share of monetary penalties recovered by the OSC, which was paid $50,000 of the monetary sanctions imposed in its settlement.
“As the receiver has liquidated or transferred the assets of the Stableview funds, the receiver’s mandate is essentially complete,” the report noted, in seeking an order wrapping up the process.