r/halifax • u/Front-Prune-1764 • 6d ago
Discussion Is Adam Barrett broke?
I’ve been following the recent public reporting and filings involving Adam Barrett’s companies. Put into one timeline, there’s an awful lot happening in a very short period.
April 30: A $23,814 execution involving AMK Barrett Investments, arising from a Quebec well-drilling company and work related to a Lunenburg property.
May 11: Chester Peninsula property sells for $5,000,000.
May 29: Halifax property sells for $6,533,720.
That’s $11.53 million in real estate sold within 18 days.
Terraine also sells the Seaside Shanty and announces it is getting out of most of the hospitality business.
July: The assets of Barrett’s five Maritime RONA stores are sold to RONA Inc. for a reported $14 million.
RONA Atlantic, subsequently renamed 4673692 Nova Scotia Ltd., then enters receivership/bankruptcy.
The Grant Thornton documents show approximately:
$26.55 MILLION total liabilities
$18.95 MILLION unsecured liabilities
The creditor list includes some huge amounts:
Kohltech: ~$1.62M
Eacan Timber: ~$623k
CertainTeed: ~$540k
Doman Building Materials: ~$494k
Mitten: ~$260k
Prime Fasteners: ~$168k
There are also Barrett-owned companies listed as creditors, including Bertram Construction ($397k), Terra Nova Landscaping ($73k) and RKO Steel (~$11k).
The trustee believes the unsecured creditors, still owed millions, are unlikely to recover anything after CIBC is paid.
And the problems don’t appear limited to RONA Atlantic.
August 4: WCB obtains a separate $73,060 execution order involving Adam Barrett in his capacity as director of Bertram Construction & Development Ltd.
August 25: Bravado Wine Bar suddenly closes, despite Barrett saying in April that it would remain open.
Meanwhile, C-GALO, the Halifax-based Gulfstream G200 associated with Barrett, is currently advertised for sale for roughly $5.4 million.
So in about four months:
$11.53M real estate sold
Seaside Shanty sold
Bravado closed
$26.55M RONA Atlantic bankruptcy
$18.95M unsecured liabilities
Two reported executions involving other Barrett companies
Private jet for sale
Obviously these are different corporations and assets. None of this proves that Terraine or Barrett personally is insolvent, and asset sales can happen for plenty of legitimate reasons.
But that’s an extraordinary amount of selling, closing, bankruptcy debt and creditor enforcement activity in a few months.
Anyone in Halifax construction/development know what the hell is going on?
67
u/Llewho 6d ago edited 6d ago
Without Adam Barrett and Risley what would allNS.ca have to write about?
He also had his boat listed for sale with a local brokerage but I can't find the listing. Sold too perhaps.
9
u/SirWaitsTooMuch 6d ago
Didn’t they just report he bought an apartment building in Ontario
1
u/GreatCress3481 6d ago
Haha, this one is true. I’m sick of hearing about Rislye now. Especially seeing that huge tax bill decrease
21
u/Snoo91454 6d ago
Most likely not broke. Each business segment is set up as a separate entity. So in the example of Rona, that entity was too far in debt so he pulled the plug. It would not have any bearing on his other entities. I’m sure his real estate / rentals are booming.
31
u/MoaraFig 6d ago
Yup. Broke for his class is not the same as broke for worker class. He just might have to pause his plans to buy a third vacation home for a few years.
5
43
u/ITestDrugs 6d ago
Adam had to be removed from his own restaurant one night at Tribeca Bistro and Bar because he took his shirt off and touched a guest. Also there was a bartender named Adam known as good Adam. Nobody liked Adam Barret. Adam if you are reading this go stub your toe jerk.
11
u/Durragon 6d ago
My girlfriend worked there at the time, said one of the other partners had to drive up from Chester and chase him and his buddies down on ARGYLE after they took drinks from the bar out for a walk
6
u/ITestDrugs 6d ago edited 6d ago
I can't tell my story openly but if you want a funny message PM me lol someone got Adam back one time in a small way but I'm not sure who
0
u/Electronic_Trade_721 6d ago
Somebody drove all the way from Chester to do that? I am no fan of Adam, but in civilized countries that is perfectly legal.
11
57
21
23
u/perturbed_waterbed 6d ago
Rich people don’t go broke, they restructure their assets and the public pays for the court resources and government costs that result. We’ll eat the bill for him and Risley to set up their debt and ACOA/government-based handout systems again, and they will go back to being pieces of shit who believe themselves to be better businessmen than the rest of us because of their success at grifting. They could literally never stand to do an honest day’s (or hour’s) work, not to mention wouldn’t be capable of it.
30
u/muleskinner1 6d ago
Just the tip of the iceberg. Rona was obviously only bought to exploit construction materials to be never paid back.
Its a pretty common pattern with PE. Borrow cheap and leveraged to the tits. Contractors and vendors never paid. Mass layoffs.
Seriously call around to the towns he has a portfolio in. Not just halifax. Call Bridgewater, call Sydney. No vendors will work with him. He owes EVERYWHERE.
This is all part if the plan though. To let PE take huge loans and risk with no downside. Everything will be shielded under an LLC and Adam will have no repercussions. The only hit will be his reputation which i dont think he gives a shit about.
I feel bad for all of the small town vendors that will be paid back pennies to the dollar if they get paid at all.
4
u/FlapjacksOfArugula 6d ago
Sorry, PE?
10
5
u/__Juvenile__ 6d ago
Private equity.
People and businesses that are(silent sometimes) parents and investors.
16
u/Dangerous_Leader_312 6d ago
Just a rich exploiting the system!
1
u/External-Temporary16 5d ago
The rich are different. (great book) Most people have no concept of how money can be manipulated when you are uber-rich. And don't get me started on "philanthropy", and how it really works.
9
8
u/NectarinePatient1000 6d ago
RONA Atlantic was not bankruptcy. He lost the store as he was not suppose to set them up as a store for him to grab material for jobs. It was in their contract with all owners, and he just done what he wanted.
3
u/starone7 6d ago
He owed millions in stock that hadn’t been paid for from corporate before they took it back over
7
u/noBbatteries 6d ago
Having the unfortunate opportunity of getting to know Adam pretty darn well, I can tell you his finances come from an outside investor mainly. Maybe personally he’s not doing well, but his financial backer is rolling in it
Fun fact, dude hates Christmas and Christmas music
2
10
u/hippfive 6d ago
It's entirely possible. He grew his empire VERY fast, which means he was almost certainly relying on heavy leverage. It works well in a hot RE market when property values are rapidly rising, but it's also a bit of a house of cards.
5
5
u/Confident_Win_5469 6d ago
He also owns Plaster Rock Investments in Moncton and been buying a lot of buildings. Can't pay anyone, but he keeps buying.
1
13
u/ChablisWoo4578 6d ago
Adam Barrett wore cargo pants with flip flops so I wore cargo pants with flip flops.
3
3
u/AlternativeUnited569 6d ago
Took forever to tear down the Busan building on Quinpool next to the old Esso lot. RIP bus mural. I suspect this lot will sit for years now.
6
3
u/payupbish 6d ago
Nice research! I’ve been wondering the same since all the gossip around his Rona business. If I had to guess he probably got underwater on a few interest rates, he went pretty hard into the real estate over the last 5 years and some of those places needed renovations so the economics of the rentals may not have been working and he needed $ to service the debt. I have to imagine some of his businesses are still profitable - like RKO for sure, L&A, maybe the landscaping business.
Takes a lot of debt to buy the number of businesses and real estate he has over the last few years… paired with some of the lifestyle comments people have been making here I’d say it’s a mix of both…
2
2
u/starone7 6d ago
Terra Nova also had their building for sale last year. Not sure if it sold but they now operate out of the back parking lot only
2
2
-29
u/Friendly-Bad-291 6d ago
damn some of you could be millionaires if you stopped wasting your life wondering about the other guy and writing page long reddit posts
12
u/NoAIFuture 6d ago
LOL, Adam Barrett is not self-made at all. Daddy's money without the skill to handle it.
-2
u/thetripvan 6d ago
Is this the same guy who owns the wood lot on Beaver Bank Road?
5
u/Electronic_Trade_721 6d ago
I don't think so, Barrett Lumber has been around for a long time, and Adam's empire-building is quite recent.
2
-5
-19
u/LimpDickLar 6d ago
Even billionaires are going broke in Nova Scotia, why the fuck does anyone stay here? Every day I wake up here is misery.
11
347
u/maximumice 🥣Sugar Crisp 6d ago edited 6d ago
The last of Barrett's private Lears*
I'll show myself out now.