BioAmber Inc (fka BIOAQ)

[1manband]

They were not “forced” as they were the petitioner. It was a voluntary bankruptcy.

Yes....and no.

Yes, BIOAQ voluntarily filed for bankruptcy protection. But, they had no choice. They were completely out of cash - they couldn't pay their creditors, or meet any of their obligations. They were flat broke. I believe they were also in default on their borrowing agreements.

If they had not filed when they did, everything would have been involuntarily shut down and the workers probably would have walked off the job for non-payment of wages. But since they were in default of their contractual obligations, their lenders almost certainly would have forced them into involuntary bankruptcy in order to preserve the value of the underlying assets before all the workers walked and what was left of the assets, including the plant, were damaged.

Therefore, although it was technically a voluntarily bankruptcy, BIOAQ had no choice. It was their only option, and if they hadn't filed when they did, their creditors would have done it for them almost immediately - almost certainly within the week. Either way, BIOAQ was screwed.