Oral appliance maker Oventus Medical Ltd has been placed under voluntary administration, a legal procedure in its headquarters country of Australia that is similar to bankruptcy in the United States.

In the United States, all production of the O2Vent has been halted and all employees laid off. According to an email from a former employee, no one can check the status of an order and no orders are being produced. The Oventus website states, “Please be advised that the o2vent ordering portal is currently paused and no orders can be received until further notice.”

The board of Oventus appointed Michael McCann and Graham Killer of Grant Thornton as voluntary administrators of Oventus under section 436A of the Corporations Act 2001. 

Voluntary administration is a procedure under the Corporations Act that is intended to maximize the chances of a company, or as much as possible of its business, continuing in existence. Oventus is working with the voluntary administrators to maximize the outcome for all stakeholders of the company. While Oventus is in voluntary administration, all its listed securities are suspended.

This week, the voluntary administrators began a process to invite expressions of interest for the recapitalization or purchase of the business and/or assets of Oventus and its subsidiary companies. An advertisement appears in the Australian Financial Review. All non-binding offers are due by 5:00 pm (AEST) on July 27, 2022. The proposed recapitalization process can only proceed if the administrators obtain an order from the Federal Court of Australia for an extension of the period by which they must convene the second meeting of creditors as defined in section 439A(5)(b) of the Corporations Act 2001. The administrators’ application is listed for hearing today.

Oventus oral appliance technology inventor Chris Hart, MPhil, BSc, BDSc, resigned, effective June 8. He is leaving the board to return to his clinical practice.

Sleep Review reached out to the voluntary administrators for comment and will update this article should they reply.