Optim Energy has been placed in Chapter 11 protection

Feb 17, 2014 21:41 GMT  ·  By

Optim Energy LLC, a company that produces electricity and is partly owned by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, has filed for bankruptcy in the United States and intends to sell one of its three Texas power plants.

The company’s chief executives placed Optim in Chapter 11 protection a few days ago, explaining in the official documents that they don’t have enough money to repay a bank debt of nearly $715 million (€520 million).

According to a report by Dow Jones, the Chapter 11 filing would give Optim Energy access to a $115 million (€83 million) loan from Cascade Investment, which is actually Bill Gates’ company and one of the main shareholders right now.

Optim Energy is currently operating a total of three different power plants in Texas, but the company might have to sell one of them in order to pay the $715 million loan to Wells Fargo.

If this makes any difference, Bill Gates has enough money to pay the entire debt all by himself, as his current net worth is said to be at $72 billion (€52.5 billion), enough to make him the richest American.