Dispute over $6.7 million leads to closure of Kingsley Trucking

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Kingsley Trucking is related to a lumber company called the San Group, which is in a dispute with its lenders for over $150 million, including RBC and Business Development Bank of Canada.

The San Group sought creditor protection under Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) filings on Nov. 29, 2024. 

The San Group of Companies, which included Kingsley Trucking, was founded in 1979 by CEO Kamal Sanghera and President Suki Sanghera, along with partner Iqbal Deol. The group of companies included five wood product manufacturing plants and over 625 employees.

According to court documents, the San Group’s financial troubles started in 2023, when global and domestic lumber prices dropped domestically and globally.

RBC persuaded the court to add Kingsley Trucking to the proceedings in February, as well as another firm owned by the San Group called Cojax Heavy-Duty Repair.

Kingsley Trucking provided transportation services for the San Group’s products on Vancouver Island, while Cojax performed heavy-duty equipment repair services, primarily to Kingsley, court documents said.

In its petition to add Kingsley Trucking and Cojax Heavy-Duty Repair to the proceedings, RBC cited payments to the related companies leading up to the San Group’s CCAA filings in Canada.

Deloitte Restructuring, which was appointed monitor to the CCAA proceeding for the San Group, said payments were made to Kingsley in January that could not be explained.

“The monitor has not received a clear answer on why these payments were made leading up to the CCAA proceedings,” Deloitte said in court documents. “The monitor also understands that two payments totaling approximately $300,000 were made to Kingsley from San Group in October 2024, which do not appear to relate to or be applied against specific accounts payable invoices or recorded in the San Group accounts payable subledger for Kingsley.”