Posted on 11/27/2012 8:45:10 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Big Island Carbon LLC, which spent some $50 million to build a biomass plant to turn Hawaii-grown macadamia nut shells into granulated activated carbon, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
The company, which has not started commercial operations at the Kawaihae plant, has laid off all 25 employees, including CEO Rick Vidgen, who was let go on Oct. 9 along with Chief Operating Officer Fred Baker and Controller Gerald Gruber, according to documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, where the bankruptcy was filed on Nov. 5.
Vidgen declined to comment on the bankruptcy filing.
Big Island Carbon listed secured claims of $16.4 million, which includes a $5 million loan from Synergy Bank in McKinney, Texas, and $11.4 million in principal and interest to Kona Investment Holdings LLC, an entity created by Boston-based Denham Capital Management, which is the project’s majority owner and secured lender...
(Excerpt) Read more at bizjournals.com ...
Some little people are going to take a hit from this bankruptcy. OTOH, perhaps BO can go ahead and move to Hawaii and exhibit his awesome business prowess by completing the plant and managing it./s/
This is odd. The debts are small. Why file?
I dunno. It might be an insider thing where they know that their technology is a bust like ethanol from wood chips.
I can’t believe the feds would tolerate a fix for the investors, but I believe in Santa Claus too.
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