The first meeting of creditors of collapsed hedge fund Portus Alternative Asset Management will take place in Toronto in mid-June, an Ontario court heard yesterday.

Court-appointed trustee KPMG Inc. has filed materials with the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, paving the way for the June 21 meeting, James Grout, a lawyer representing KPMG, said during a brief hearing.

Typically the director of the defunct company would be required to attend the proceedings. Grout told the court that he has a sent a letter outlining those obligations to Portus founder Boaz Manor, who left Canada for Israel and has remained there since his company's high-profile meltdown last year.

"It will be interesting to see whether Mr. Manor intends to comply with his obligation under the Bankruptcy Act," Grout said.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Colin Campbell asked whether Manor may at least be able to attend the meeting, which will be held at Ricoh Coliseum at the CNE grounds, via video conference.

At one point, the lawyer quipped, "I think a lot of people would like to see him in person in a coliseum."

Portus, founded in 2002 by Manor and Michael Mendelson, became one of the fastest-growing hedge funds in Canada, with about 26,000 customers investing almost $800 million. The company began to unravel after regulators froze its accounts in early 2005 amid concerns about bookkeeping irregularities.

Among the latest developments, trustees have located another $35 million (U.S.) in bank accounts in the Caribbean, funds "which the principals of Portus had been attempting to move around," Grout told the court yesterday.

In total about $700 million has been secured after being found in 130 Portus bank and investment accounts in Canada, the Turks and Caicos and the Cayman Islands. But the vast majority of those funds is tied up in bank notes issued by French bank Société Générale. The bank is not required to pay out those investments until 2009.

Manor was slated to appear in court is Israel last week, but the hearing was put off because of the Passover holiday, Grout said.