could not pay them without the additional funds. On 11 February 2008 the company ceased operations, issuing a short news release that it was "due to the inability of the company to come to terms with their lender for funding necessary to maintain business operations." On 14 February 2008 it was reported that employees of the company were optimistic that operations would be able to continue under new financing. At the same time aviation anonymous industry leaders interviewed by the aviation press expressed opinions that the company would not be saved and that there would be no choice but to have it liquidated. This prediction turned out correct, as the company filed for liquidation under Chapter 7 on 15 February 2008 The government of the City of Pueblo, Colorado demanded that USD$2M in financial incentives paid to firm be returned. As part of its agreement with the city, Adam Aircraft had agreed to create 448 jobs, but had only created 90 jobs, almost all eliminated in the round of lay-offs in January, preceding closure. The city filed liens against Adam Aircraft's physical equipment to recover the money owed. AAI Acquisition On April 11, 2008, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado approved the sale of the company for $10 million to AAI Acquisition Inc an entity jointly controlled by Russian firms Industrial Investors and Kaskol. Industrial Investors is a private equity management company with $3 billion in assets, notably Far East Shipping Company. According to their statement, former Colorado Governor Bill Owens is a director of one of its companies. At the time of purchase, AAI VP Dmitry Shokhin said: "We plan to revive Adam Aircraft's operations, including continuing the process of certification for the A700 jet". Industrial Investments had reportedly ordered 75 A700s prior to Adam Aircraft's bankruptcy, and restarted work on the A700 with 60 employees back at work by May 2008. According to a July 2008 statement by Sergey Generalov, CEO and owner of Industrial Investors, more than ten other companies had bid for the assets of bankrupt AAI. prior to the tender the company made a deal with 50 Adams engineers, persuading them to stay with AAI, thus securing the winning bid. In addition to the US$10 million purchase price, Generalov expected to invest another US$150 million before the project would generate any return. The new company confirmed at AirVenture 2008 that they