3 min read

Traffic passes TimberHP at 1 Main St. in Madison in April. (Rich Abrahamson/Staff Photographer)

MADISON — The wood fiber insulation manufacturer TimberHP announced Wednesday it has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, three months after the company that had aimed to revitalize Madison’s former paper mill began to restructure.

In an announcement signed by CEO Matthew O’Malia, the company called the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process “uncontested and complete.”

“With a recapitalized structure, we now have the financial foundation and operational capacity to meet rising demand, improve product availability, and support a growing network of distributors, builders, architects, and installers who are helping make important changes toward healthier, more sustainable building practices,” TimberHP’s announcement said.

TimberHP’s parent company, GO Lab Inc., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the District of Delaware on March 25. Wednesday’s announcement comes exactly three months later — the exact timeline the company’s lead bankruptcy lawyer had predicted when the process began.

As part of the restructuring, the company said it has been reincorporated as TimberHP Inc., which “symbolizes an exciting fresh start for the company.”

Advertisement

Production of TimberHP’s first two products, TimberFill and TimberBatt, continued during the restructuring, and the company said it now expects sales of those products to grow. It also said the products have been improved.

Its third product, TimberBoard, is expected to hit the market by the end of 2025, company officials said. Cianbro Corp., the general contractor working at the Madison mill, has returned to work on finishing that product line, according to Wednesday’s announcement.

Bankruptcy court filings describe the board product as the most market-differentiated of the three, expected to become the company’s largest revenue source, with the highest profit margin.

But cost overruns during construction exceeded $30 million and prevented the completion of equipment for that line, according to court filings.

Those who have supported TimberHP since its inception, including several local and state leaders, said earlier this year that they were hopeful the Chapter 11 restructuring plan would get the manufacturer, already hailed as a comeback story of sorts, back on track.

Madison, the third largest town by population in Somerset County with about 4,700 people, was faced with a serious blow when Madison Paper Industries announced its closure in 2016.

Advertisement

The paper mill on Main Street had employed more than 200 people when it closed and was a large portion of the town’s tax base. Its loss threatened the economic devastation that other Maine mill towns have experienced amid the collapse of the state’s paper industry in the early 2000s.

The former Madison Paper Industries mill on Main Street in Madison, seen in 2019, is now home to TimberHP, which uses renewable resources to produce wood fiber insulation products. After three months, it has emerged from bankruptcy protection. (David Leaming/Staff Photographer)

Enter a chemist, Joshua Henry, and an architect, O’Malia, with an idea to repurpose the mill for manufacturing a wood fiber insulation product popular in Europe that would be first of its kind in North America.

The company was founded in 2017, bought the 600,000-square-foot mill in 2019 and began manufacturing in 2023, according to court filings.

As of the March filing, TimberHP had 54 full-time employees, with plans to employ more than 100 people. The company noted in its announcement Wednesday that it is aiming to build up its sales team.

The prenegotiated Chapter 11 plan included the canceling of millions in debt, including some that came from public-private partnerships. Bondholders invested more than $20 million to support the transition and “long-term success,” the company said.

“We are very grateful for the broad support that we have received from creditors, financial partners, the Finance Authority of Maine and other lenders, which has enabled us to successfully complete our restructuring with an exciting opportunity for growth moving forward,” said O’Malia, the CEO, in a statement.

“Our team demonstrated incredible commitment and resilience through this transition period, and our improved liquidity and balance sheet provide the chance to execute on our plan to make TimberFill, TimberBatt and TimberBoard mainstream insulations of choice for residential, light commercial, and multifamily development projects.”

Jake covers public safety, courts and immigration in central Maine. He started reporting at the Morning Sentinel in November 2023 and previously covered all kinds of news in Skowhegan and across Somerset...

Join the Conversation

Please sign into your CentralMaine.com account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe. Questions? Please see our FAQs.