In Brief
Bio-on was the leading Italian PHA producer and had around 100 employees in 2019.
The problems started when a report was published by an American -Israeli company claiming Bio-on was a house of card.
That company was probably short-selling on the Bio-on stocks. Short selling means to speculate against the market; taking a position through financial options (instruments) and making money if the share value collapses.
The report had a devastating impact on the value of Bio-on’s stocks. Bio-on was placed under “administration” to repay all potential debts.
All the accusations related to the “financial side” and the “corporate structure”. The Bio-on technology has never been, to my knowledge, officialy discredited.
At this moment-in-time, Marco Astorri, ex-CEO of Bio-on, is still innocent unless proven otherwise.
Bio-on is now officially for sale.
My Personal Remarks
What’s the truth? Well, we have three options
- Option 1 – House of Cards
The “Report” was right, Bio-on was a fraud. The whole corporate construction was to cash in fraudulently.
- Option 2 – The Invisible Hand
The aim of the report was to influence the stock market and to cash in on the collapse of the stock value.
Bio-on was going to become a billion dollar companies and a bioplastic leader. This creates many powerful enemies.
Members of the industry, hedge funds, Italian ministry of finance and Italian justice were casted in this scenario.
- Option 3 – Lost in Translations
Bio-on was developing quickly and Marco Astorri wanted to create the perfect corporate structure. He wanted to make things too perfect. Instead of setting up departments for each potential line of business, he created full companies.
Bio-on was listed on the Italian Stock Exchange and this created legal, financial and corporate obligations.
So we could hesitate between: Marco Astorri ran his company like a startup or he ran his startup like a multinational.
Marcio Astorri wanted to makes things too perfect. His intentions were not understood by the financial analysts. Financial analysts and business people do not speak the same language.
Emotion versus rational …. vision versus financial balances
Brand
They succeeded in building up a world famous brand. I think the brand Bio-on is worth a lot in the marketing-conservative world of bioplastics