Hemp producer GenCanna files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

After a season rife with challenges, Kentucky hemp producer and CBD manufacturer GenCanna Global and its subsidiary Hemp Kentucky filed for bankruptcy protection.

GenCanna’s Chapter 11 filing on Wednesday followed involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petitions filed in January by companies owed money by the Winchester, Kentucky-based firm:

• Pinnacle.
• Crawford Sales.
• Integrity/Architecture.

According to the case file, privately held GenCanna currently owes $100 million to $500 million to 50-99 creditors. GenCanna says it has assets in the same range.

A court date has not been set.

The Chapter 11 would allow GenCanna to continue operations while working through a reorganization plan, which could mean refinancing existing debt or selling.

“Through this restructuring, we plan to address certain structural issues that we could not fix on our own,” GenCanna Global CEO Matty Mangone-Miranda said.

The bankruptcy filing comes after a raft of business challenges caused setbacks for GenCanna over the past few months and led the company to lay off several employees in December:

• A group of farmers announced lawsuits against the company in the fall, alleging broken contracts and inferior seed. GenCanna has partnered with more than 60 local farms, growing more than 30 million plants on more than 6,000 acres.
• In November, part of its production facility in Winchester exploded and caught fire with employees inside. No one was injured, but significant property damage resulted.
• Building contractors filed 19 liens on the property in September and October, saying GenCanna owed them more than $13 million. The liens delayed construction of the company’s Mayfield processing facility.