Autostore faller

Autostore experienced a significant drop in stock value, closing down 7.12 percent as the most traded stock on Oslo Børs on Tuesday. The Norwegian battery company made agreements to relocate its San Jose, California operation to a new, fully equipped facility focused on battery development and pilot production. This move is expected to bring about savings of over $3.5 million annually, reducing total operational costs by around 70 percent, and the overall operating expenses from 30 to 10 percent.

The stock initially rose after opening but closed down 0.6 percent. On Tuesday evening, Hynion, a crisis management agency, reported that Hynion received an interest from Modiola AS and Middelborg Invest AS to purchase a majority share in the company. The investor group indicated they would propose to restructure the company's operation towards virtual private server (VPS) and dedicated server operation, and issue new shares to finance the new operation and pay off debt.

As part of the restructuring, outstanding claims would be converted to shares at a rate of 0.001 kroner per share. Common creditors would be offered 15 percent of their outstanding claim, while a guarantee claim from Bizcap AB and Gerhard Dahl of around 15.6 million kroner would be settled for 1 million kroner. Critical suppliers would not convert but would receive full repayment from the issuance.

After conversion and before the issuance, existing shareholders would retain around 3.1 percent of the company. Creditors representing about 80 percent of the claims to be converted have signaled support for the restructuring. Hynion has previously been given until September 9 by Euronext Oslo Børs to explain measures that make the company suitable for continued listing.

The company will respond within this deadline, according to the announcement. Trading in the stock has been paused since the company requested bankruptcy in January.