The following press release was received from West Bay SonShip's marketing director John Driver...
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February 2, 2006
WEST BAY SONSHIP YACHTS OBTAINS COURT APPROVAL FOR RESTRUCTURING PLAN
Delta, BC – West Bay SonShip Yachts Ltd. designs and builds some of the finest yachts in North America. The popularity of the company’s yachts over the last several years was aided by the tremendous buying advantage that US customers enjoyed due to the weakness in the Canadian dollar. In the last three years, however, the Canadian dollar has appreciated almost 30% in value compared to the US dollar. West Bay, like many Canadian manufacturing businesses exporting product primarily to the US, was faced with a daunting challenge brought about by such a rapid and substantial increase in the value of the local currency.
On December 16, 2005 West Bay SonShip Yachts Ltd. filed an application in the Supreme Court of British Columbia seeking protection from its creditors pursuant to the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act (“CCAA”). An order was granted providing the company the time necessary to formulate a Plan of Reorganization for the consideration and approval of the stakeholders. The move to seek court protection was made voluntarily, and was done in order for the company to be able to deal fairly and equitably with and protect all of the stakeholders.
On February 1, 2006 West Bay received the approval of the Court to proceed with a Plan of Reorganization that will permit the company to complete the construction and delivery of five yachts that were in various stages of completion when the Court’s protection was originally sought. The company is also developing a plan that will permit it to take on new yacht orders and service work without affecting the completion of the existing yacht projects.
“With the assistance of the Court, our customers, employees and creditors we believe that the present short term plan will permit us to complete our production vessels and lay the foundation for security for our future customers,” said West Bay founder and chairman Ben Vermeulen. “West Bay is Canada’s leading yacht builder whose quality and commitment, and that of our employees, is second to none in delivering to our customers the very best yachts built in North America. West Bay remains committed to seeing its way through this time and to organize itself in the near future in such a way that our strengths will endure and that we will maintain our position as a leading yacht manufacturer.”
“The Vermeulen family started this company nearly 40 years ago and we have been faced with many challenges and successes during that time”, added West Bay president Wes Vermeulen. “We are proud of our heritage, of our yachts, of the craftspeople who build them, and of the distinguished customers who own them. We appreciate the support of our customers, our employees and our suppliers during this time. Moving forward, we are very optimistic that beyond this stage of our CCAA filing there will be an even better West Bay SonShip Yachts through which our customers can realize their dreams.”
Questions or comments may be directed to Wes Vermeulen, President, West Bay SonShip Yachts at:
West Bay SonShip Yachts Ltd.
8295 River Road, Delta,
British Columbia, Canada V4G 1B4
Ph: (604) 946-6226 • Fax: (604) 946-8722
www.west-bay.com •
dreams@west-bay.com 
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