At the request of the Ontario Securities Commission, all trading in securities of First Leaside Properties Fund and FL Master Sherman Ltd. has been voluntarily halted and a monitor has been appointed while their parent sorts out its affairs.
Accounting firm Grant Thornton has been hired to be monitor to the First Leaside Group of Companies of Uxbridge, Ont., which has investments in apartment units in Canada and the United States through the fund and Master Sherman.
According to a notice posted on the First Leaside Group’s website, Grant Thornton has concluded that the group’s “future viability” depends on raising new capital and OSC staff has advised that it’s not appropriate to use money from new investors to fund Leaside’s operating losses, costs of rehabilitating properties and distributions of existing limited partnerships.
The company’s website also says it has been “structuring tax-efficient limted partnerships” for 19 years and has about 1,000 investors.