Two companies belonging to the Huot Group, in financial difficulty since mid-February, officially closed their doors at the end of the week.
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The Le Commandant restaurant-bar and Go Helico, both located in the Complexe Capitale Hélicoptère, near the Quebec City airport, have ended their activities. The Commandant welcomed its last customers last Saturday, while Go Helico made its last helicopter rides on Sunday, confirmed Huot Group spokesperson Florence Brouillard.
“They didn’t make an announcement. They decided to put signs in the windows and doors, to say that it was going to close”, she explained.
Commander and Go Helico employees were notified “a few weeks” before the closure. The Huot Group was unable to quantify the number of layoffs or to comment on whether gift certificates or packages purchased in advance will be honored.
The operations of the flight school and the maintenance center, also present in the Complexe Capitale Hélicoptère, are continuing, assured the Huot Group.
Financial difficulties
Remember that the Quebec real estate giant, owned by Stephan Huot, has been in hot water for several months.
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Financial difficulties – which would be linked in particular to inflation and the rise in interest rates – have forced the company to put its construction sites on hold, in addition to proceeding with layoffs.
On the south shore of Quebec, the Transrapide distribution center, also owned by Groupe Huot, has just been placed under the protection of the law on arrangements with creditors. A potential buyer has also been targeted to regain control of the Center, according to what was learned in court last week.
In mid-April, the Huot Group had more than $900 million in active loans on its buildings. No less than 334 legal mortgages totaling $108.5 million had been registered on buildings of the Huot Group and its subsidiaries, according to data from the firm Terram Technologies.
A group of millionaire investors from the Quebec City area is now working with lawyers, accountants and bankers to find a way through for housing stock. No less than $13 million in new money – out of an emergency fund estimated at $50 million – were injected by these lenders into the Huot Group, to prevent it from going bankrupt.