He has a $500M plan for an N.L. airport. But his companies and finances have faced turbulence | 24CA News
Ottawa businessman Carl Dymond has repeatedly stated he’ll create hundreds of jobs, spending tons of of thousands and thousands in personal cash, when he finalizes the acquisition of the airport in Stephenville, N.L., and units his plans in movement there.
His preliminary announcement greater than a 12 months in the past sparked hope, with politicians in western Newfoundland cheering his imaginative and prescient.
But timelines for the transaction have shifted, and the deal hasn’t but closed.
Now a 24CA News investigation — utilizing public information searches and visits to his Ottawa business addresses — has uncovered data that raises a swirl of recent questions on Dymond’s monetary plans and company capabilities.
Among these findings:
- The sole director overseeing two Dymond corporations says he did not truly know he was nonetheless listed as serving in that position, after having minimize ties with Dymond almost a 12 months in the past. A company governance skilled says that raises purple flags.
- 24CA News visited three Ottawa areas listed as business addresses for Dymond corporations and could not discover any proof they at present function there.
- Potential business companions who introduced offers with Dymond over the previous 12 months have declined to touch upon the present standing of these plans. There has been no indication of public progress on the proposals, which required money investments from Dymond’s corporations.
Right from the beginning, Dymond has careworn that he’s not in search of public money to make his imaginative and prescient for Newfoundland’s west coast a actuality.
“We want to be able to do this with our money,” he stated on the Sept. 9, 2021, news convention saying his deliberate acquisition of the airport.
“I think putting our money into it is showing that we’re serious about what we’re looking to do.”
Six weeks later, in an interview with a neighborhood business group, he was much more clear.
“I’ve made enough money to last me a lifetime. So now it’s, ‘Do I need to have $3 billion or $300 billion or $3 trillion?'” Dymond stated in an Oct. 22, 2021, interview posted on Facebook by the Long Range Small Business Week Committee.
“I don’t care. You know what I mean?… They’re just numbers. And right now, honestly, if this takes money to get started, happy to put my own money up front to do that.”
But public information elevate questions on Dymond’s means to do exactly that. He not too long ago took on further private monetary debt and has an impressive judgment towards him in Newfoundland.
He not too long ago stated traders — who he declined to call — are within the wings and able to make his Stephenville goals a actuality, and careworn that his business and private funds are separate.
Dymond has declined a number of 24CA News interview requests this 12 months in regards to the standing of his plans for Stephenville. He wouldn’t grant an interview for this story however supplied an emailed assertion.
“It takes time to finance the type of growth we are planning for Stephenville, but financing is underway with appropriate due diligence undertaken on all sides,” he wrote.
“Like most business owners, I operate under a limited liability structure, and there is no connection between my personal finances and the finances of the company.”
His imaginative and prescient features a manufacturing facility for big futuristic cargo drones and the return of scheduled passenger service to the at present moribund airport.
Mystery Ottawa workplace areas
Dymond included two eponymous, federally registered corporations in 2017, based on public information.
The Dymond Group and Dymond Aerospace had been each initially based mostly out of his suburban Ottawa dwelling, with Dymond himself listed as the only director.
In the summer season of 2021, he filed paperwork altering the Dymond Group workplace deal with to a constructing simply blocks from Parliament Hill.
As of this week, that deal with — 251 Laurier St. W., Suite 800 — was listed on the prime of Dymond’s company web site.
That deal with was as soon as dwelling to a “virtual office” firm.
Virtual places of work permit companies to make use of the deal with of a prestigious workplace constructing, with out essentially having a bodily presence there. They supply companies akin to assembly rooms, entry to co-working areas, and mail companies.
24CA News visited the Laurier location this summer season — on June 28, simply hours earlier than Dymond introduced a binding acquisition settlement had been signed for the airport in Stephenville.
The constructing’s listing listed Suite 800 as “available for lease.” The elevator doorways opened up onto a vacant workplace house.
On Oct. 31, Dymond filed paperwork itemizing a close-by downtown Ottawa constructing, at 150 Elgin St., as the brand new workplace deal with. That constructing is now dwelling to the identical digital workplace firm that used to function at 251 Laurier St.
On Nov. 15, 24CA News went there. There was no itemizing for the Dymond Group within the constructing’s listing.
The receptionist on the Elgin digital workplace location advised 24CA News that Dymond had as soon as been a consumer for these digital companies however wasn’t any extra.
His different firm, Dymond Aerospace, modified workplace areas from his dwelling to a constructing in a suburban Ottawa business park in August 2021, based on company filings.
Dymond Aerospace was not listed within the business listing there both.
There is one other department of the identical digital workplace firm in that constructing as effectively. The individual within the reception space advised CBC News final week they’d by no means heard of Dymond.
Meanwhile, Dymond included a federally registered numbered firm final 12 months for his business pursuits in Newfoundland. He is asking it the Greater N.L. Partnership. The listed deal with is in an east-end St. John’s workplace constructing.
When a CBC News reporter visited on the afternoon of Nov. 25, there seemed to be nobody inside.
The individual on the workplace subsequent door indicated that, to their data, nobody had been figuring out of the Dymond Group workplace in a few months.
Director for a 12 months, and says he did not understand it
There can also be obvious confusion about who has been directing Dymond’s operations within the nation’s capital.
Dymond himself was listed as sole director when he included the 2 Ottawa-based corporations again in 2017.
Directors play a key position. According to the federal authorities, they’re chargeable for supervising the actions of the company.
In the summer season of 2021, Dymond filed paperwork de-listing himself as director of each the Dymond Group and Dymond Aerospace.
His substitute as director, retroactive to July 2020, was named as Dominic Howarth.
But final month, Howarth advised 24CA News he hasn’t had something to do with Dymond for a few 12 months and did not truly know he was nonetheless listed as a director till not too long ago.
Howarth stated a former colleague knowledgeable him that he was nonetheless on the books as director of the 2 Dymond corporations. So he contacted Dymond and requested to be faraway from the place.
He described his position as “very temporary solution at the time.”
“I didn’t even have the full gist of everything,” he stated. “It was more just being a support factor for their company.”
Howarth stated he has since moved on to different issues and Dymond is the “director, he’s the owner, he’s the guy running all the show and making the decisions.”
On Oct. 31, Dymond filed paperwork retroactively reappointing himself director of these two corporations, all the way in which again to July 2020.
In his electronic mail to 24CA News, Dymond stated “we are functioning like a startup,” and categorized the adjustments as routine.
“As most entrepreneurs know, there is a lot of change during the first year(s): change of location and changes in key roles, but we are committed to being transparent about those changes as they develop,” he wrote.
“With the additional unsuspecting change of the pandemic, our employees and myself have been working remotely from home, our offices have not been occupied and some leases have expired.”
‘That actually tosses up some purple flags,’ skilled says
But a company governance skilled says all of this — the obvious confusion over who is definitely directing the businesses, and questions over their listed addresses — raises considerations.
“How could you be a director of a company and not know it?” stated Richard Powers, affiliate professor on the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.
“How does something like this happen? There may be a very reasonable explanation, but typically there’s not.”
Powers known as the state of affairs involving the registered places of work “very unusual” and stated the confusion over administrators is “shoddy” company governance.
“Particularly when you start saying that you’ve checked out the addresses and there was no evidence of them being there, that really tosses up some red flags,” he stated.
“You put it together with the information around the absence of a valid director. It really calls into question if I was the government or if I was another party looking to do business with them. I’d be a little bit wary at this point.”
2nd mortgage taken out on dwelling earlier than deal inked
Dymond introduced his acquisition of the Stephenville airport at a news convention in September 2021.
But talks dragged on previous the preliminary deadline set for the top of 2021. He didn’t signal a binding acquisition settlement with the native airport authority till late June of this 12 months.
Less than two weeks earlier than signing that airport deal, Dymond accomplished one other monetary transaction.
He and his partner took out a $236,600 second mortgage on their suburban Ottawa dwelling, at an rate of interest of 12 per cent.
The money was borrowed from British Columbia-based Ryan Mortgage Income Fund Inc., which says it “lends money by way of residential mortgages to Canadians who fall outside of the conventional banking system.”
A primary mortgage stays listed as a cost towards the property. It was registered at $253,875 again in 2015, when Dymond and his partner purchased the house for $338,500.
And there’s one other cost nonetheless on the books: a 2018 mortgage for $30,000 from EasyFinancial Services, the lender that pitches “financial relief and a second chance when banks aren’t an option.” The rate of interest there’s 28.99 per cent over a 10-year time period.
While Dymond hasn’t lived in Newfoundland and Labrador for years, there’s an lively judgment registered towards him on the provincial sheriff’s workplace.
The registration dates again 4 years. In March, the excellent quantity was listed at $16,320. As of this week, it had grown to $20,685.
In his assertion to 24CA News, Dymond stated, “Facts or suppositions related to my personal life are not matters of public interest. The inferences you are drawing by your characterizations are defamatory and irresponsible.”
Status of previous bulletins unclear
Since Dymond’s preliminary news convention launching his pending acquisition of the Stephenville airport greater than 15 months in the past, there was phrase about different huge issues to come back.
A 12 months in the past, Ottawa-based BridgesXR — then referred to as Corona Aerospace — introduced “an investment of $20 million for a post-money valuation of $100 million from the Dymond Group for development, integration and services related to use of extended reality (XR) systems.”
As a part of that plan, BridgesXR stated it “will be expanding operations and opening an office in support of the Dymond Group at the Stephenville Dymond International Airport.”
24CA News has not been capable of finding any indication that BridgesXR has since began up operations in western Newfoundland.
In October, 24CA News requested the corporate for an replace on the standing of the initiative, whether or not the Dymond Group has made that $20-million funding, and for particulars of what occurred if the plans usually are not continuing.
BridgesXR CEO John Nicol despatched a one-word message in response: “Nope.”
Asked for clarification about whether or not “nope” meant the Dymond Group hasn’t made the funding, Nicol replied: “Nope, I am not interested in talking to you.”
Meanwhile, the present standing of a separate announcement — that Dymond would purchase an possession stake in a U.Okay-based startup — additionally stays up within the air.
In an April press launch, Urban-Air Port stated the Dymond Group has “committed a significant investment” within the firm, and indicated that Carl Dymond would be a part of its board of administrators.
In June, Urban-Air Port chief monetary officer Adrian Zanelli advised 24CA News the deal was “in the final steps.”
At the time, Zanelli stated it was anticipated to shut in July, and concerned a money buy-in, though he didn’t present particulars of economic phrases. He did affirm that no cash had modified fingers at that time.
As a part of the transaction, Dymond deliberate to purchase two vertiports — airports for drones and eVTOLs, plane that use electrical energy to take off and land vertically.
Zanelli indicated that a kind of vertiports might be in-built Stephenville.
Fast-forward a number of months, and there’s no phrase on what has occurred since.
There has been no followup announcement posted on the Urban-Air Port web site in regards to the Dymond deal.
Carl Dymond just isn’t at present listed as a director of Urban-Air Port within the U.Okay. Companies House registry.
Urban-Air Port CEO Ricky Sandhu initially agreed to talk with 24CA News, then postponed, citing business commitments. He didn’t reply to followup emails.
In his electronic mail to 24CA News, Dymond stated, “The details of our partnerships are evolving, and we look forward to releasing those details when appropriate.”
Despite the dearth of public progress on these offers, the large numbers hold coming.
In September, Dymond Aerospace signed a memorandum of understanding with Duxion, a Newfoundland-based startup, to spend $500 million on under-development hydrogen-fuelled engines for 100 plane within the deliberate fleet of cargo drones. The first supply is predicted in 2026.
That seems to be on prime of the money he has already introduced on infrastructure spending in western Newfoundland, to make his imaginative and prescient a actuality.
At his news convention in Stephenville final 12 months, Dymond stated $200 million can be spent on his initiatives within the space.
In a current speech to the Newfoundland and Labrador Construction Association, he upped the ante to $500 million in deliberate infrastructure investments in 2023, with work anticipated to start in April.
During the identical convention, Dymond was interviewed on the Gale Force Wins podcast, which options conversations centered on optimism.
“We’ve already inspired $30 billion of infrastructure to come into that area,” he stated through the interview.
It’s not completely clear the place that quantity got here from; Dymond didn’t make clear it when requested by 24CA News.
While these big greenback figures are being bandied about, Dymond has additionally been coping with some extra modest monetary claims.
In late May, an Ottawa cybersecurity agency sued the Dymond Group for slightly below $5,000.
The subcontractor alleged in small-claims courtroom that the Dymond Group hadn’t paid any invoices for 9 months. The lawsuit was not associated to Dymond’s airport challenge in Newfoundland.
Court paperwork present that Dymond did not file a press release of defence, and settled the case in early July by paying the total quantity.
In his electronic mail to CBC, he stated it was “an unpaid invoice for approximately $3,000 that was promptly paid. No judgment was made, and the claim was withdrawn upon payment days later.”
Status of airport sale
Both Dymond and Stephenville Airport Corporation officers have indicated {that a} 17-year-old insolvency continuing has been holding up the ultimate sale.
Dymond’s Greater N.L. Partnership stated this summer season it “has paid the required sums to the trustee involved and we are currently following the established discharge process.”
A leaked draft acquisition settlement obtained by 24CA News on the time put the quantity owed to collectors of the 2005 airport proposal at slightly below $50,000.
The former chair of the airport board indicated final month that the trustee bumped into issues making an attempt to trace down collectors and discover inspectors appointed as a part of the method all the way in which again in 2005.
They lastly met final month, and minutes of the assembly had been despatched to the federal Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy to find out whether or not a discharge might be granted.
The new chair of the airport board declined an interview request from 24CA News in regards to the standing of that course of. The mayor of Stephenville not too long ago indicated it might be cleared up by January or February. As of Monday, there have been no new filings at courtroom associated to the matter.
There is one other monetary hurdle to the acquisition that has not but been cleared.
The Newfoundland and Labrador authorities has assured a line of credit score as much as a most of $900,000 to assist fund operations on the airport.
Dymond stated in late October that there was about $775,000 owing, at the moment.
Government officers have repeatedly advised 24CA News that provincial taxpayers will not be on the hook for that legal responsibility as a part of any sale of the airport.
They indicated that the airport company is required to pay the total quantity owing on the road of credit score and shut it down. The province will then terminate the assure.
In his current electronic mail to 24CA News, Dymond once more stated good issues are coming down the runway, and careworn the significance of endurance.
“With any new venture, we understand people may be skeptical, particularly based on the years the property was idle,” Dymond wrote.
“Still, we have significant interest from new business partners, in addition to the partners we’ve already announced. We will be sharing those details as those deals are finalized.”
