German biofuels firm CHOREN files for insolvency

08 July 2011 14:41  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--German biofuels firm CHOREN has filed for insolvency because of difficulties in financing the start-up of a synthesis-gas demonstration plant, officials said on Friday.

Lawyer Bruno Kubler, one of CHOREN’s court-appointed administrators, said the insolvency affects the company's main business at Freiberg in Saxony state, and two German subsidiaries.

CHOREN's units in the US and China are not affected, he added.

Kubler said CHOREN, which employs about 290 people in Germany, will continue to operate normally while the insolvency administrators look for an investor.

“CHOREN is an innovation leader in a growth sector and has a competitive technology,” he added.

CHOREN is a second-generation biofuels technology firm focussed on processing biomass such as wood and wood wastes into synthesis gas, which is then turned into fuels.

CHOREN’s stakeholders include carmakers Daimler and Volkswagen, among others. Shell, which used to be a stakeholder, exited CHOREN in 2009.

Check out Doris de Guzman’s Green Chemicals Blog for views on sustainability issues

By: Stefan Baumgarten
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