Unfortunately, the force is not that strong for BioAmber today as the company announced its filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in the US, while its two Canadian subsidiaries – BioAmber Sarnia Inc. and BioAmber Canada Inc. also filed a notice of bankruptcy intention as well in Canada. The company said these procedures are the best way to protect all stakeholders and be able to renegotiate its debt and raise the funds needed to continue its operations.
The filings will impose an automatic stay of proceedings that will protect the company, its subsidiaries and their assets from creditors while BioAmber pursues its restructuring efforts. If the company is not able to raise money and restructure its business, it could be forced to cease operations and liquidate its assets.
So, my faithful blog readers…who do you think will be interested in a 30 ktpa bio-succinic acid plant in Sarnia? What will also happen in the cellulosic sugar commercialization collaboration with Comet Biorefining? Will CJ Cheiljedang step up and buy more North American biorefinery assets? (Remember when Metabolix sold its biopolymer assets in the USA to CJ Cheiljedang, and Rick Eno – the current CEO of BioAmber, was then the CEO of Metabolix)
It’s another hit for the renewable chemicals market (see my previous post on the Rennovia exit).
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Great post Doris . . . the challenges of getting to scale continue to weigh heavily on the industrial biotechnology sector. We must discover new and more collaborative pathways to commercial scale.
Posted by Tim Staub | May 5, 2018, 5:54 pm