Golf course sale could cost N.B. $5M: broker

A receiver has begun the process of selling the financially troubled Royal Oaks golf course in Moncton.

But it's unlikely the eventual proceeds of the sale will go toward repaying the nearly $5 million that New Brunswick taxpayers invested, according to a business broker.

"Normally, shareholders don't usually end up with a lot," said David Barnett.

"Somebody will be able to own this business and make money at it. What that depends on is how much they pay for the land and the buildings."

C.A.B. Realty Finance L.P., a Toronto-based financial institution, called in its loan to the golf course in June, putting in jeopardy almost $5 million worth of provincial funds invested in the course.

In 1998, the New Brunswick government extended a $4.8-million loan guarantee to Royal Oaks, which was turned into a direct loan in 2002 and then preferred shares in 2008 an arrangement that would give the province a claim to 50 per cent of the company's net profits until the investment was repaid.

The document that spells out the province's share agreement may not be worth the paper on which it's printed, said Barnett.

The receiver handling the sale of assets, A.C. Poirier and Associates Inc., recently placed a request for expressions of interest in the classifieds section of the Globe and Mail newspaper.

"As part of this request for expressions of interest, we are offering the Royal Oaks golf course and the properties that are owned by that corporation, along with some properties that surround the golf course and are owned by two related corporations, totalling approximately 400 hectares in the Moncton area," said Lawrence Crandall, a manager with A.C. Poirier.

Interested "parties will contact our office and obtain a little more information. They'll be required to execute a non-disclosure agreement and at that time we are able to offer some basic due diligence documents to them."

Potential buyers have until Dec. 21 to express interest and start the process that will likely force the province to officially write off Royal Oaks as a bad debt.