D1 Oils founder preparing buyout bid -source
LONDON, March 11 (Reuters) - Karl Watkin, the founder of British biofuels firm D1 Oils (DOO.L) is preparing a bid to buy out the company, a source with direct knowledge of the plans said on Tuesday, taking advantage of a record-low share price and a global commodity boom.
Watkin on Monday quit as executive director of D1, with local media saying he was disheartened by the investment community not making a distinction between D1's crop, jatropha, and other less environmentally sustainable biodiesel feedstocks.
"The company is massively undervalued," the source said, adding that a bid was currently being prepared and a mixture of debt and equity was the preferred mode of funding.
He'll "borrow the money and do it. I would have thought it'd happen pretty quickly."
Shares of D1 have tumbled on concern it is unable to compete with subsidised U.S. imports of raw materials, and the selling accelerated after it said last Friday it may cut jobs at its refineries in northern England as a result.
D1 shares were down 12 percent to 51 pence at 1033 GMT, valuing the entire firm at about 31 million pounds ($62.17 million). (Reporting by Hsu Chuang Khoo; Editing by Quentin Bryar)
