A Brewer-based manufacturer of composite bridge systems has filed for bankruptcy, reporting an operating loss of nearly $860,000 through the first five months of 2023.
Advanced Infrastructure Technologies LLC filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection through the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Bangor last month. In this chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, the debtor typically proposes a plan of reorganization to keep its business alive and pay creditors over time.
Advanced Infrastructure Technologies is headquartered in Naples, Florida, and has locations in Brewer and North Randall, Ohio. The company designs and manufactures composite bridge systems meant to last decades longer than traditional steel and concrete structures.
Replacement of the Grist Mill Bridge in Hampden was the first project in the nation to use the company’s composite girder technology, which was developed in collaboration with University of Maine researchers. A few months ago, the Maine Department of Transportation was considering using the company’s GBeams, which are fiber-reinforced polymer bridge beams, to replace the deteriorating Llewellyn G. Estes Memorial Bridge in Old Town in 2024.
Whether or not the department plans to move forward with the company’s technology was unclear Friday.
“AIT has made great strides over the last 13 years, introducing innovative and disruptive composite technologies to the infrastructure market,” Chief Executive Officer Brit Svoboda said. “Unfortunately, we have struggled recently trying to raise the significant growth funding necessary to support our expanding opportunities.”
Advanced Infrastructure Technologies’ assets total $8.1 million, compared with $18.8 million that it owes to various parties, according to court documents.
The majority of the $18.8 million in liabilities includes intercompany transactions, convertible debt and other insider debt, Svoboda said. The company owes roughly $5 to $6 million to third parties, he said.
The company is communicating with several groups about partnerships that would help it “come out the other side of reorganization healthier, stronger and better prepared” for a significant change in how the world builds infrastructure, Svoboda said.
Tex Tech Industries, which Advanced Infrastructure Technologies owes nearly $312,000, is listed in the bankruptcy filing as the creditor with the largest unsecured claim. Others include the University of Maine, which is owed more than $95,400, and Newport Industrial Fabrication Inc., which is owed more than $85,900.
No secured creditors, who are typically paid first in a chapter 11 bankruptcy, were listed in the filing signed by Svoboda and Portland-based Adam Prescott of law firm Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer & Nelson.
Advanced Infrastructure Technologies was founded in 2009 as a spinoff of the university’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center. Many of its early projects involved “Bridge-in-a-Backpack” composite arches, which are used in bridges across the country and internationally.