Khosla-Backed Coskata Shelves IPO, Shifting Focus to Gas

Bloomberg
By Andrew Herndon - Jul 20, 2012 11:24 AM CT
Coskata Inc. (COSK), a biofuel company backed by venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, shelved its $100 million initial public offering and is seeking investors for a plant that will convert natural gas into ethanol.

Unfavorable market conditions were the main reason for putting the IPO on hold, Chief Executive Officer Bill Roe said. The closely held company, which also counts Total SA (FP) and Blackstone Group LP among its investors, registered Dec. 16 to sell shares.

Coskata is the second biofuel company this year to reconsider an initial share sale, after Canada’s Enerkem Inc. withdrew its offering in April. Other biofuel developers that have completed deals in the last two years have lost value, and “that hasn’t helped,” Roe said in an interview yesterday. “It has soured a lot of the investors.”

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