Allen-Vanguard, one of Canada's longest-running counter-IED companies, is now under court supervision after its lenders, owed roughly US$80 million, applied to have the company placed into receivership.

The Ontario Superior Court appointed PwC as receiver on September 1. That means PwC now runs the company's operations and finances, with the goal of either selling the business or winding it down, all under the court's watch.

Allen-Vanguard has operated out of Ottawa since 1981, with a second engineering site in Tewkesbury, UK. The company builds radio frequency technology used to defeat radio-controlled improvised explosive devices, along with more recently added counter-drone systems, serving military, public safety, security, and commercial customers.

It serves more than 30 end-users across multiple continents, including defence forces and security agencies in Australia, the UK, Canada, Romania, the U.S., and Saudi Arabia, and it works through an outsourced contract manufacturing model rather than producing components in-house.

As of July 28, the company employed about 50 full-time staff across its Canadian and UK operations. In late July and August, it temporarily laid off some of its Canadian employees to preserve cash.

The trouble has been building for years, with the decline getting sharper over just the past six months, according to the court filings.