In the filing, Riverstone says it received a letter from a debt holder claiming that the amount Riverstone owes -- $1,570,935.82 in principal, interest, and damages -- is immediately due.
The trustee claims that, because Riverstone has delayed filing its annual report (Form 10-K) with the SEC, the amount Riverstone owes is due. The trustee -- the agent of a bond issuer who handles all the administrative aspects of the debt holder's loan to Riverstone -- argues that Riverstone is required in its contract with the bond issuer to file its annual report within 60 days of receiving notice from the trustee.
Riverstone disagrees with the trustee's claim, and the company says it has sent a letter saying as much. In the filing, Riverstone also cautions that it may not be able to afford the debt repayment, if the entire amount it owes were due all at once.
Of course, this new wrinkle shouldn't come as a shock. Riverstone's downward financial spiral is well documented. Here are links to this year's developments, with the most recent items listed first:
- Nasdaq Delists Riverstone
- Riverstone Asks Nasdaq for More Time
- Riverstone Oops! Level Rises
- Riverstone Rethinks Revenues
- Riverstone's Got a New Chief
- Riverstone Restates, Stock Falls
- Riverstone Readies Restatement
- Kern Decreases Riverstone Stake
- Riverstone Branded 'E' by Nasdaq
- Accounting for Riverstone's Problems
- SEC Calls on Riverstone
- Riverstone Disappoints the Street
Riverstone shares were down $0.08 (5.71%) to $1.32 in early afternoon trading on Friday.
Calls to Riverstone on Friday morning were not returned.
— Phil Harvey, Senior Editor, Light Reading
Their ex-CEO (used to be CTO of Yago) came across, at least to this casual observer, as a knowledgeable techie, not a hypester or a fraudster. So it is all the more surpising that they seem to have just imploded. Can anyone shed some light?