Charge Enterprises Inc., a public company building charging stations for electric vehicles and broadband infrastructure, filed bankruptcy to implement a restructuring plan that will hand control of the business to senior lender Arena Investors, Bloomberg News reported. Charge Enterprises’s assets have a book value of more than $114 million compared to liabilities of roughly $48.7 million, according to papers it filed Thursday in Delaware bankruptcy court. The company said it started polling creditors on its restructuring plan earlier this week and will seek to win bankruptcy court approval on the Arena deal by April 24. Thursday’s chapter 11 filing marks at least the fourth bankruptcy involving companies in the electric vehicle business over the past few years. Electric vehicle maker Lordstown Motors Corp. and EV parts maker Proterra Inc. filed chapter 11 last year and startup Electric Last Miles Solutions Inc. went bankrupt in 2022. Charge Enterprises blamed its bankruptcy largely on its dealings with investment adviser Korr Acquisitions Group Inc. and its former chairman, Kenneth Orr. The company said that it was supposed to have access to roughly $10 million held by Korr Acquisitions Group which it had planned to use to pay debt maturing in November. But when the business sought the funds, “they were unexpectedly and unjustifiably unavailable” and subsequently learned the money had been shifted to other companies affiliated with Orr, Charge Enterprises Interim Chief Executive Officer Craig Harper-Denson said in a sworn statement.
