NewLead receives NASDAQ Staff determination letter
NewLead Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ: NEWL) ("NewLead" or the "Company") today announced that, on June 25, 2014, the Company received a letter from the NASDAQ Listing Qualifications Staff (the "Staff") of The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC ("NASDAQ") notifying the Company that the Staff has determined pursuant to its discretionary authority set forth in Listing Rule 5101 to delist the Company's securities based on public interest concerns raised by certain false and misleading public disclosures made by the Company and the fact that the Company has not demonstrated an ability to sustain compliance with the $1.00 minimum bid price requirement for continued listing on The NASDAQ Global Select Market, as set forth in Listing Rule 5450(a)(1), as required by a NASDAQ Hearings Panel decision dated January 3, 2014, the Company said in a press release.
As a separate and additional basis for delisting, the Company was notified that it had not regained compliance, by June 23, 2014, with the $50 million in market value of listed securities requirement for continued listing on The NASDAQ Global Select Market, as set forth in Listing Rule 5450(b)(2)(A). As a result of the foregoing, the Company's securities will be subject to delisting unless the Company requests a hearing before the NASDAQ Hearings Panel (the "Panel") by July 7, 2014 to present a plan to regain compliance and address the Staff's concerns. NewLead intends to timely request a hearing before the Panel. The Company's securities will continue to be listed on The NASDAQ Global Select Market until such time as the Panel determination is made.
About NewLead Holdings Ltd.
NewLead Holdings Ltd. is an international, vertically integrated shipping, logistics and commodity company. NewLead owns three dry bulk vessels, one Handysize vessel and two Panamax vessels and manages three third party tanker vessels, two small bitumen tanker vessels and one Handysize MR product tanker. The Company took delivery of one of the three modern eco-type dry bulk Handysize vessels, the Newlead Albion on May 19, 2014 and expects to take delivery of the other two, one of which is newbuilding, between July and August 2014. The Company has also signed a term sheet for 75% financing to acquire two dry bulk Panamax vessels. Upon completion of the above acquisitions and together with the vessels under management. NewLead is expected to have a fleet of ten vessels, seven owned and three vessels under management. Furthermore, the Company owns a wash plant and a mine in Kentucky, USA and has been granted access to develop and mine another mine, that includes a CSX rail load facility, the Andy Rail Terminal, in Kentucky, USA. NewLead's common shares are traded under the symbol "NEWL" on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.