Skyreach Completes Restructuring and Sale

On February 23, 2004, the plan of arrangement and reorganization proposed in respect of 843504 Alberta Ltd., formerly known as Skyreach Equipment Ltd., became effective. Skyreach’s restructuring proceedings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and Alberta Business Corporations Act were initiated by its term lender, EdgeStone Capital Mezzanine Fund II Nominee, Inc., and supported by its operating lender, GE Commercial Distribution Finance Canada Inc. These proceedings were supervised by the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta in Edmonton. As part of Skyreach’s restructuring, United Rentals of Canada, Inc. acquired ownership of all the common shares of Skyreach pursuant to the plan, for consideration of approximately $70 million. The plan, which had been approved by creditors in an earlier vote and sanctioned by the court on January 27, provided for a restructuring of Skyreach’s debt obligations and significant recovery to all stakeholders, including unsecured creditors.

United Rentals was represented in-house by Joseph Kondrup, vice-president (acquisitions); by Macleod Dixon LLP, with a team that included Byron Loeppky (M&A), Howard Gorman, (insolvency and restructuring), Frank Herbert (banking and corporate), Mark Cooper (corporate) and Sam Durante (real estate); and by Davis & Company as special counsel, with a team that included Stan Wong and Kevin Wright (competition), and Peter Archibald, Q.C., (labour) in BC. Scotia Capital Inc. acted as financial adviser to United Rentals, and was represented by in-house counsel James Vaux and Firas Kitmitto.

EdgeStone was represented by in-house counsel Stephen Marshall and James Johnson; and by Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, with a team that included Pamela Huff and Amanda Kushnir (restructuring and insolvency), Frank Guarascio (corporate) and Paul Tamaki (tax) in Toronto and Robert Anderson and Christa Nicholson (restructuring and insolvency) in Calgary.

GE was represented in-house by Joe Conte, operations counsel; by Ogilvie LLP in Edmonton, with a team that included Kentigern Rowan, Michael Loberg and Mark Enright; and by ThorntonGroutFinnigan LLP in Toronto, with a team that included Robert Thornton and Leanne Hoyles.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc., in its capacity as court-appointed monitor of Skyreach, was represented by Reynolds, Mirth, Richards & Farmer LLP in Edmonton, with a team that included Michael McCabe, Q.C., Victor Lirette and Kelsey Becker. Restructure Consulting Ltd., in its capacity as court-appointed chief restructuring officer of Skyreach, was represented by Bryan & Company, with a team that included Kenneth Blasius, Q.C., Michael Crozier, Q.C., and Joseph Kueber.