Bankrupt Aquasearch seeks overseas partner

Advertiser Staff

Big Island biotechnology firm Aquasearch, which is bankrupt but still operating, wants to find an overseas partner to produce nutritional supplements more cheaply than can be done in Hawai'i.

The company produces astaxanthin, an antioxidant, from algae grown in Kona, but is in talks with a Pacific Rim company to take over that production, Aquasearch said in its annual report filed earlier this week.

The company did not divulge further details and officials did not return calls requesting comment.

A move of production facilities would let the company keep up with demand for its product, and also devote its Hawai'i space to research and development, the company said.

It would have a minimal effect on the local 16-employee work force, which comprises mostly scientists and lab technicians.

Aquasearch stockholders last October forced the company into involuntary bankruptcy, a move that led to the resignation of chief executive Mark Huntley. The company has secured emergency financing from a consortium of Mainland investors who are trying to save Aquasearch from liquidation.

The company has had some success in marketing its astaxanthin supplements, selling about $480,000 of the product in 2001, but production and R&D costs led to millions of dollars in losses. Aquasearch lost more than $4 million in 2001, and roughly the same in 2000.