And this week's ethanol company filing for bankruptcy is....
Basehor, Kansas-based Ethanex Energy is getting out of the ethanol game, announcing that it plans to file for bankruptcy protection.
The development-stage company, formed in 2006, said it failed to secure interim financing of at least $1.5 million for its proposed acquisition of a Nebraska ethanol plant and has terminated the agreement.
Last November, the company said it would buy the facility from Nebraska's Midwest Renewable Energy for $220 million in cash and stock.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Ethanex said "in light of its declining liquidity and its inability to obtain interim financing, the company terminated the employment of all employees other than Albert Knapp, David McKittrick and Lisa Hallier and ceased ongoing commercial operations."
Knapp is president and CEO of Ethanex, while McKittrick serves as CFO. Hallier's title was not disclosed.
Ethanex said in November that the 26 million gallon per year ethanol plant in Nebraska was undergoing a two phase expansion to produce 111 million gallons per year.
The company originally planned to build three ethanol plants, each able to produce around 110 million gallons of the gasoline additive a year. Its organizers raised $20 million in a private stock offering in 2006 and then registered the shares for public trading.
Shares dropped 9.1 cents in over-the-counter markets Monday to 17 cents a share.
The company had held a reverse stock split in January in which shareholders were reduced to one share for every 10 they held. At their height in October 2006, shares traded above $48, when adjusted for the reverse split.
Ethanex had shifted strategies in November, agreeing to buy and expand the Nebraska plant that produces 26 million gallons a year. It hoped the plant would showcase Ethanex’s corn fractionation processes that it said would make ethanol more efficiently.
Officials said the shift followed fundamental changes in the ethanol business. Ethanol prices soared in mid-2006, making it cheaper to build than to buy a facility. That changed as ethanol prices dropped, and Ethanex shifted its strategy.
The Nebraska deal involved a $50 million purchase of the existing plant, followed by two additional transactions as the plant expanded.
In total, Ethanex would pay $170 million in cash and enough Ethanex shares to bring the total to $220 million.
But that, too, would depend on Ethanex raising $1.5 million in interim financing while it worked to fund and complete the deal, which it was unable to do.
The development-stage company, formed in 2006, said it failed to secure interim financing of at least $1.5 million for its proposed acquisition of a Nebraska ethanol plant and has terminated the agreement.
Last November, the company said it would buy the facility from Nebraska's Midwest Renewable Energy for $220 million in cash and stock.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Ethanex said "in light of its declining liquidity and its inability to obtain interim financing, the company terminated the employment of all employees other than Albert Knapp, David McKittrick and Lisa Hallier and ceased ongoing commercial operations."
Knapp is president and CEO of Ethanex, while McKittrick serves as CFO. Hallier's title was not disclosed.
Ethanex said in November that the 26 million gallon per year ethanol plant in Nebraska was undergoing a two phase expansion to produce 111 million gallons per year.
The company originally planned to build three ethanol plants, each able to produce around 110 million gallons of the gasoline additive a year. Its organizers raised $20 million in a private stock offering in 2006 and then registered the shares for public trading.
Shares dropped 9.1 cents in over-the-counter markets Monday to 17 cents a share.
The company had held a reverse stock split in January in which shareholders were reduced to one share for every 10 they held. At their height in October 2006, shares traded above $48, when adjusted for the reverse split.
Ethanex had shifted strategies in November, agreeing to buy and expand the Nebraska plant that produces 26 million gallons a year. It hoped the plant would showcase Ethanex’s corn fractionation processes that it said would make ethanol more efficiently.
Officials said the shift followed fundamental changes in the ethanol business. Ethanol prices soared in mid-2006, making it cheaper to build than to buy a facility. That changed as ethanol prices dropped, and Ethanex shifted its strategy.
The Nebraska deal involved a $50 million purchase of the existing plant, followed by two additional transactions as the plant expanded.
In total, Ethanex would pay $170 million in cash and enough Ethanex shares to bring the total to $220 million.
But that, too, would depend on Ethanex raising $1.5 million in interim financing while it worked to fund and complete the deal, which it was unable to do.