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After a dramatic fall from green building material unicorn to a bankruptcy court, Squamish, B.C.-based Nexii Building Solutions Inc. will be restarting its business after an $8-million investment from U.S.-based 3 Gates.
Nexii was a promising startup valued at $2 billion due to its Nexiite material, which produces up to 36 per cent less carbon emissions during production than Portland cement concrete. But the company announced it would seek creditor protection in January, telling the Supreme Court of British Columbia it owed over $109 million and faced liquidity problems.
Toronto-headquartered KSV Restructuring Inc. was appointed monitor of Nexii. KSV said Nexii was sold for approximately $500,000 and more than $22 million in assumed liabilities to B.C.-incorporated Nexiican Holdings Inc. and Delaware-incorporated NEXII Inc.
On Tuesday morning, it was announced NEXII Inc. had acquired Nexii Building Solutions’ assets on June 28, a move aimed at relaunching its products. Operations transitioned from Nexii to NEXII Inc. as of July 24.
The company behind NEXII is 3 Gates, a Dallas-based firm specializing in corporate restructuring with Blake Beckham and Russ Lambert as principals. Beckham is Nexiican's director, while Lambert is NEXII's president.
Nexii will invest the $8 million to retrofit its Squamish manufacturing facility to improve production capacity. Most of its employees have been retained, Nexii says in a release.
“We were immediately impressed with the quality and commitment of the Squamish workforce, and it was an easy decision to remain there and continue to invest in the plant, with plans to upgrade and expand operations,” Beckham said in the announcement.
Nexii’s sustainable materials
Bill Tucker, the CEO of Vancouver-based Omicron Architecture Engineering Construction Ltd. which was acquired by Nexii in 2021, has been appointed as the interim CEO to oversee the restructuring and expansion of Nexii.
“I am pleased to be a part of this important effort to restructure and expand Nexii,” Tucker said in a release. “Our collective vision is to build a profitable company driving impactful change in carbon reduction and schedule enhancement in the North American construction industry.”
Nexiite is poured and cast into wall and roof panels like concrete, but has no Portland cement, lime or adhesives, which cuts the embodied carbon footprint. Additional carbon reductions can be made because it weighs less, so less fuel is needed to transport Nexiite.
Nexii also emphasizes how Nexiite produces minimal waste from manufacturing or during construction.
The panels can be assembled quickly on site, at approximately half the time of a conventional residential build, Nexii claimed in one of its projects in B.C.
Materials were made at Nexii’s 80,000-square-foot Squamish facility, which received the Total Resource Use and Efficiency gold certification for zero-waste in 2023.
Companies such as AECOM, Chase Bank, Walmart and Starbucks have used Nexiite panels.
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