Video: State Gives KiOR More Time on Loan

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JEFF AMY/Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi will give struggling biofuel company KiOR another four months to raise money and resume repaying its $69.4 million debt to the state, passing up a chance to force the company into bankruptcy and seize its Columbus refinery.

Mississippi Development Authority spokesman Jeff Rent told The Associated Press in an email Thursday that KiOR will pay Mississippi $250,000, and the state won’t press claims for 120 days.

Rent says the $250,000 is in addition to what KiOR already owes the state.

KiOR is based in Pasadena, Texas. It owed Mississippi a nearly $1.9 million payment June 30 on what was originally a $75 million, no-interest loan. Kior said if it defaults, it could face demands from other lenders to immediately repay the entire $287 million that it owes.

Khosla Ventures of Menlo Park, California, controls 88.5 percent of KiOR stock.