Aceto's stock to be delisted Wednesday, company SEC filing says
Aceto said its stock will be delisted from the Nasdaq stock market on Wednesday. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Shares of Aceto Corp. in Port Washington will be delisted and stop trading on the Nasdaq stock market effective Wednesday.
In a securities filing, the manufacturer of generic drugs and seller of chemicals said it lost an appeal on Monday of a Nasdaq delisting decision. The decision came after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from its creditors on Feb. 19.
Aceto’s appeal forestalled its stock's being removed from Nasdaq on March 4. However, the company said Monday it won’t make a second appeal, choosing instead to have its shares trade on the Over-The-Counter Pink Sheet Market — under the ACETQ symbol — beginning Wednesday morning.
“The transition does not affect the company’s operations and does not change reporting requirements” under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules, the company said in the filing.
Aceto shares closed up Monday by .0025 cents, or more than 1 percent, to 18 cents on the Nasdaq. After the securities filing became public, the shares fell; they closed for the last time on the Nasdaq Tuesday down 24 percent to 14 cents, a 52-week low. A year ago the shares hit a 52-week high of $7.59.
Aceto, which employs about 300 people locally, is selling much of itself in auctions supervised by bankruptcy courts in New York and New Jersey.
The company has agreed to sell its struggling drugs division to an India-based drugmaker for $15 million and its chemicals unit to a private equity firm for $338 million. Both transactions are expected to close by June 30, but a higher bidder could come forward.
Aceto ran into trouble with its ambitious and expensive plan to become a drug manufacturer. A string of acquisitions left the company with a lot of debt, intense competition from other drug producers and trouble delivering products.
In a securities filing last month Aceto said its financial situation deteriorated significantly between June and December 2018, with the amount of available cash going from $101 million to $42 million. The company sought $60 million to keep operating and to pay its workforce.
James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.
