Shares of Orbital Infrastructure Group plummeted after the company and multiple subsidiaries filed voluntary chapter 11 petitions in federal bankruptcy court, extending a selloff that ravaged shares on Wednesday, MarketWatch.com reported. The stock dropped 29% to 85 cents in off-hour trading. When the market closed Wednesday, shares had fallen by a third that day and by 96% over the preceding 12 months. The infrastructure services platform said on Wednesday that it received notice from Nasdaq that it was violating listing requirements by failing to file a quarterly report, spurring the initial selloff. Orbital Infrastructure said it had until Aug. 25 to request a stay of the suspension of its shares from the exchange. Then late Wednesday night, the Houston-based company disclosed that it and four subsidiaries had filed for chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. The bankruptcy filing excludes subsidiaries Front Line Power Construction and Gibson Technical Services, which are being sold as part of the bankruptcy process. Orbital Infrastructure has entered into purchase agreements with each company's lenders, who are considered "stalking horse" bidders as the purchase agreements contain terms against which competing offers will be solicited during a chapter 11 auction process.
