SACRAMENTO, California,
April 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Agreement
Terminated Alothon's Roll-up Rights
Will
Result in Reclassification of Over $9
Million Of Derivative Warrant Liabilities to
Shareholders' Equity
Expected Impact on
Shareholders' Equity Appears to be Sufficient to
Satisfy NASDAQ Shareholders' Equity
Requirement
RiceBran Technologies (NASDAQ: RIBT, NASDAQ: RIBTW)
("RBT"), a global leader in the production and marketing of
value-added products derived from rice bran, today announced that
it reached an agreement on Friday, March 31,
2017, with Alothon Group, LLC ("Alothon"), its minority
co-investor in Nutra SA, that terminated Alothon's roll-up rights,
a process that would have allowed Alothon to swap its equity
position in Nutra SA for an equivalent value of RiceBran
Technologies common stock. Eliminating Alothon's rollup rights will
allow RiceBran Technologies to reclassify approximately
$9.6 million of derivative warrant
liability to shareholders' equity effective March 31, 2017.
RiceBran Technologies believes it will resolve its shareholders'
equity deficiency issue when it reports 2017 first quarter results.
RBT reported shareholders' equity of $(632,000) as of December
31, 2016.
"We believe this agreement and the resulting reclassification of
the derivative warrant liability to shareholders' equity will
greatly enhance our financial position and will place our
shareholders' equity at the end of the 2017 first quarter well
above NASDAQ's requirement for minimum shareholders' equity of
$2.5 million," noted Robert Smith, PhD, CEO of RiceBran Technologies.
"Over the past nine months we have worked to reduce costs, focus
operations, and improve our balance sheet. This agreement is an
important part of positioning RiceBran Technologies to focus on
creating shareholder value by pursuing long-term opportunities to
expand our core ingredients business that will improve our margins
and EBITDA and generate positive returns on capital."
RiceBran Technologies also needs to regain compliance with
Nasdaq's $1 minimum bid price
requirement. This can be resolved by having the bid reach or exceed
$1 per share for ten consecutive
trading days. If this appears unlikely, RiceBran Technologies is
committed to taking actions that would allow it to regain
compliance, including, if necessary, completing a reverse split of
its common stock to increase its share price above the $1 minimum bid price. RiceBran Technologies has
until September 6, 2017 to comply
with this requirement.
About RiceBran Technologies
RiceBran Technologies is a food and animal feed ingredient
company focused on the procurement, bio-refining and marketing of
numerous products derived from rice bran. RiceBran Technologies has
proprietary and patented intellectual property that allows us to
convert rice bran, one of the world's most underutilized food
sources, into a number of highly nutritious food and feed
ingredient products. Our global target markets are food and feed
manufacturers and retailers, as well as specialty food, functional
food and nutritional supplement manufacturers and retailers. More
information can be found in the Company's filings with the SEC and
by visiting our website at http://www.ricebrantech.com.
Forward-Looking Statements-portion of
additional disclosure
This release contains forward-looking statements, including, but
not limited to, statements about RiceBran Technologies'
expectations regarding the reclassification of derivative warrant
liability to shareholders' equity, future financial results,
shareholder's equity as of March 31,
2017, satisfaction of NASDAQ's shareholders' equity
requirements and RBT's potential completion of a reverse stock
split. These statements are made based upon current expectations
that are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties,
including the risks that (i) RBT may have further adjustments to
the dollar amount of the warrant liability reclassification, (ii)
RBT's results of operations for the quarter ended March 31, 2017 and the classification of RBT's
outstanding preferred stock as of March 31,
2017 will materially impact its shareholders' equity, (iii)
NASDAQ determines that RBT's shareholders' equity as March 31, 2017 is not adequate in light of RBT's
historic financial performance and (iv) if RBT determines to
complete a reverse stock split in the future, RBT's shareholders
may not provide the requisite approval. RiceBran Technologies does
not undertake to update forward-looking statements in this news
release to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions or
changes in other factors affecting such forward-looking
information. Assumptions and other information that could cause
results to differ from those set forth in the forward-looking
information can be found in this press release and in RiceBran
Technologies' filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including its most recent periodic reports.
Investor Contact:
Ascendant Partners, LLC
Fred Sommer
+1-(732)-410-9810
fred@ascendantpartnersllc.com
SOURCE RiceBran Technologies