This is the second instalment in a series examining large retail insolvencies in Canada from the perspective of various stakeholders. The Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (Canada) (CCAA) is the principal statute for the reorganization or sale of large corporate debtors in Canada and the functional equivalent to Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code (Chapter 11) in the United States. Accordingly, our series focuses on CCAA proceedings, with references to alternate insolvency proceedings where applicable.

This article discusses retail insolvencies from the perspective of third-party inventory suppliers and service providers, and follows the CCAA filing of Toys “R” Us (Canada) Ltd. (Toys Canada), a leading toy and baby products retailer. The first article in this series, focusing on the landlord perspective on retail insolvencies, was published shortly after Sears Canada’s June 22, 2017 CCAA filing.