Medellin-Based Architectural-Engineering Giant AIA Files for Bankruptcy
Colombia’s corporate oversight agency (Superintendencia de Sociedades) announced November 17 that Medellin-based architectural engineering giant Arquitectos e Ingenieros Asociados (AIA) filed for bankruptcy reorganization because of likely delays in paying creditors next year.
According to the Superintendencia, AIA reported revenues of COP$179 billion (US$59.6 million) at year-end 2016 and net income of COP$8.796 billion (US$2.9 million).
“The company requested the reorganization process, invoking the inability to pay imminently,” according to the Superintendencia. “That is, the company’s own projections suggest that it could stop paying its obligations next year.”
Superintendencia director Francisco Reyes Villamizar pointed out that AIA is one of Colombia’s most famous architectural engineers and construction companies, having participated in major infrastructure works such as the Bogota-Villavicencio superhighway and Medellin’s inconic María Luisa Calle cycling stadium, among many other big projects.
“The objective of the reorganization is to preserve the company as a productive unit and a source of employment generation,” Reyes added.
“Among the causes of the business crisis is a lower-than-expected behavior of the [Colombian construction] sector and a lack of working capital,” according to the Superintendencia.
“Upon admission to the insolvency regime, the company must refrain from making patrimony transfers that are not included in the ordinary course of business or making payments or arrangements outside the process,” the agency added.
