A planned merger between organics recycling equipment companies Renovare Environmental and Harp Renewables may still be pending, but details remain murky. Renovare CEO Tony Fuller has departed in the meantime.
In June, Renovare announced that Harp and an affiliated company could acquire it through a reverse merger (a change from Renovare’s previous plans to acquire Harp) but details have been scant in the months since. According to a June 24 Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the target closing date for this transaction was Sept. 2.
A lengthy Tuesday filing, which included details on recent efforts by Renovare to raise new funding and manage significant levels of unpaid debts, now lists Oct. 31 as a deadline for the transaction. The filing also disclosed that Fuller resigned from his roles as CEO and board member on Sept. 8, further stating he “did not indicate that his decision to resign was a result of any disagreement with the company on any matter relating to the company’s operations, policies or practices.”
On Wednesday morning another filing announced that Renovare’s listing would be officially removed from trading on Nasdaq, following a suspension in June that moved it back to trading on the OTC Markets.
Fuller could not be reached for comment. Representatives for Renovare and Harp have not responded to recent inquiries, including a request for comment on the Tuesday filing. Keystone Capital Partners, which is listed as an involved party in the new financing efforts, did not respond to a request for comment as of publication.
Renovare has been in a downward spiral of financial losses, layoffs and litigation for months. The company’s revenue for the first half of this year was $1.54 million, down more than 76% year over year. This was largely due to a decline in sales of its on-site food waste digestion systems, but revenue from its Entsorga West Virginia mechanical biological treatment facility also dropped.
Renovare paused operations at that site earlier this year, leading the Berkeley County Solid Waste Authority (which owns the property) to divert its material to a nearby landfill instead. Observers view this site as an unlikely fit for Harp’s business, but no other known buyers have emerged and its status remains unclear.
EntsorgaFin, a company based in Italy that licensed the technology behind this site and helped develop it, is still seeking payment of more than $1.1 million in outstanding debt from a Renovare subsidiary via federal court. No new filings have occurred in that case since July 15, when EntsorgaFin filed an amended complaint.
According to West Virginia outlet MetroNews, Renovare left a significant amount of waste at the facility which caused a fire over the summer. A division of Gold Medal Environmental, a one-time partner in the Entsorga venture, was brought in to help manage the material. The state’s Department of Environmental Protection previously notified the facility operators that they “must resume operations on or before October 4, 2022 or begin permanent closure of the facility.”
The potential combination of Renovare and Harp’s on-site digestion technologies, as well as Harp’s fertilizer product, was previously described as a compelling opportunity to service more commercial and institutional customers looking for food waste solutions.
