In a statement released Friday morning, the President and CEO of Ascend Elements, Linh Austin, announced that Ascend Elements has voluntarily filed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
A Chapter 11 bankruptcy is routinely called a ‘reorganization’, and allows a business or individual to restructure their finances while continuing operations. In his state, Austin says Ascend Elements is taking this step to achieve firmer financial footing for the long term, calling certain financial difficulties ‘insurmountable’.
He says their mission doesn’t change much in the interim—on a day-to-day basis, employees remain on the job, and customer commitments continue. Linh says they remain committed to the successful, safe operations at the Georgia facility, along with the completion and ramp-up of our other sites in North America and Poland. He says they have demonstrated their ability to replicate their proven production lines across multiple facilities without adding undue technical risk.
He calls restructuring a difficulty that leads to uncertainty, but he feels confident they’ll emerge on the other side stronger.
The fate of the facility being built at the Hopkinsville site in Commerce Park II remains up in the air for now, with a spokesperson for Ascend Elements saying Friday, “Ascend Elements’ assets are being sold to a new owner, to be determined through the Chapter 11 process, and the future of these assets will be up to them to determine after the purchase.”
Locally, Southwestern Kentucky Economic Development Council Executive Director Carter Hendricks tells WHOP News that they remain in contact with company leadership as they navigate their legal and financial processes. He says they will continue to work with the company to ensure long-term success at the Apex 1 site.
Ascend Elements—which develops sustainable battery materials through advanced recycling technologies—has started construction of the Apex 1 facility, but that construction has been paused during an ongoing legal battle in court regarding contracts with construction organizations.