BioFuel Energy shares jump 62 percent

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Shares of ethanol producer BioFuel Energy Corp. jumped 62 percent Thursday after the Denver-based company announced it has settled some outstanding issues with its lenders.

Shares gained 42 cents to $1.10 in afternoon trading.

BioFuel Energy said its operating subsidiaries amended their credit agreement with BNP Paribas and a group of lenders, settling all outstanding issues and lifting all defaults.

The subsidiaries, which own and operate two 115-million-gallon plants in Wood River, Neb., and Fairmont, Minn., have converted their outstanding construction loans into term loans that mature in 2014. They made their first principal payment of $3.2 million to the lenders, leaving a principal of $195.4 million.

"With our bank financing issues behind us, we look forward to refocusing on our plant optimization initiatives that are currently underway," Scott H. Pearce, BioFuel Energy's president and chief executive, said in a statement.

The company last month received a delisting warning from the Nasdaq for its shares repeatedly falling under $1.