Aventine may delay construction on two plants; company had invested construction cash in illiquid securities; cash crunch looms

Aventine Renewable Energy said that it may delay construction on two plants because it cannot find buyers for $211 million in auction-rate securities that it had held as a near-cash investment, and had attempted to sell in December to fund completion of construction. With the news, and the rise of the March corn contract to $5.245, the company’s stock fell 18 percent in Friday trading.

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