IMRIS, Inc. announced last week that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and that it will be sold to an investor group within the next two months.

“It was a very difficult decision for the company and the board but it will position us in a much better place when all is said and done, so we can take care of our employees, our customers and our vendor partners,” Jay D. Miller, CEO and president of IMRIS, told DOTmed News.

IMRIS is best known for their VISIUS Surgical Theater, which enables ceiling-mounted MRI and CT systems to facilitate intraoperative procedures.

The company has suffered ongoing operating losses and declining liquidity and equity value as a result of significant fixed operating costs for the research and development of new technologies and delayed payments due to long installation time frames.

“It has always been a lumpy business with significant cash flow swings, and because of liquidity constraints it was just impractical for the company to continue what it was doing without significant changes in our capital structure,” said Miller.

Deerfield Management Company, L.P., a financial planning company, is providing IMRIS with debtor-in-possession financing and IMRIS intends to sell its business operations to them. But Miller mentioned that IMRIS does not know for sure who the company will be sold to yet.

In the meantime, business is carrying on as usual. “We are continuing to innovate, develop, buy, build, ship, install and train and support our customers as we were before,” said Miller. “We are working on making sure that we put the company in a position where it is stable financially in the long-term.”

IMRIS is seeking approval from the United States Bankruptcy Court of requests to make wage and benefit payments to employees, continue its customer programs and pay all creditors in the ordinary course. IMRIS’s U.S. operations and its subsidiary, NeuroArm Surgical Ltd., are the only segments of the company subject to Chapter 11 proceedings.

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