Pomerantz Law Firm Announces the Filing of a Class Action Against Vertex Energy, Inc. and Certain Officers - VTNR

NEW YORK, May 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Vertex Energy, Inc. ("Vertex" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: VTNR), and certain officers.  The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama, Southern Division, and docketed under 23-cv-00197, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants that purchased or otherwise acquired Vertex securities between April 1, 2022 and August 8, 2022, inclusive (the "Class Period"), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants' violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.

If you are a shareholder who purchased or otherwise acquired Vertex securities during the Class Period, you have until June 12, 2023 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class.  A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com.   To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased. 

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

Prior to the start of the Class Period, Vertex's primary business involved the collection and processing of used motor oil.  In early 2021, Vertex announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire an oil refinery located in Mobile, Alabama from Shell Oil.  The refinery was viewed as a "transformative" acquisition for Vertex, expected to significantly increase the Company's projected annual revenues, from $115 million in fiscal year 2021 to a projected $4 billion in fiscal year 2023.  A key component of the acquisition was Vertex's plan to convert a portion of the refinery's 91,000 barrel-per-day output to renewable diesel fuel, which was expected to generate higher profits than the refinery's conventional gasoline and diesel fuel outputs.  The acquisition of the Mobile refinery acquisition was expected to close in early 2022.

During the remainder of 2021, Vertex secured financing to cover the significant cost of the acquisition, which included $75 million for the refinery itself, and over $150 million for crude oil feedstock and refined fuel inventory that would be transferred to Vertex as part of the acquisition.  This financing included a $155 million convertible notes offering issued in November 2021 and a $125 million term loan signed in April 2022.  The financing arrangements, which represented a significant increase to Vertex's total debt load, were expected to be funded by profits from the Mobile refinery.

To successfully operate the Mobile refinery, Vertex, like other oil refiners, would be required to procure raw crude oil from suppliers, process it into finished products such as gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, and sell the finished products to distributors who would then sell the products to end users.  The difference between the prices at which Vertex acquired crude oil inventory and the prices at which it sold the finished products inventory is known in the refining industry as the "crack spread."  Crack spreads, which fluctuate over time based on domestic and global oil prices, are widely viewed by analysts and investors as the key component of potential profits for oil refiners like Vertex.

Historically, refiner crack spreads have been below $20 per barrel, but in early 2022, following the conflict in Ukraine, global oil markets experienced severe disruption and crack spreads began to rise.  This timing coincided with Vertex's acquisition of the Mobile refinery, which had been first announced in early 2021, when crack spreads were significantly lower.  As a result of the rising crack spreads, analysts and investors increased their profit forecasts for the Mobile refinery on the expectation that the refinery would be able to capitalize on higher profit margins on each barrel of fuel Vertex produced.  However, unbeknownst to investors, immediately prior to the closing of the Mobile acquisition, Defendants had entered into, or were a party to, a series of transactions that dramatically capped the new plant's profitability and would, in fact, lead to significant losses immediately following the acquisition.  These transactions, which in some instances were required pursuant to the financing arrangements Vertex had entered into, resulted in over $125 million in losses during the Class Period.

The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operations, and prospects.  Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that:

(a) prior to the acquisition of the Mobile refinery, Defendants had entered into inventory and crack spread hedging derivatives that significantly capped the profit margins on 50% of the Mobile refinery's expected output over the period April 1, 2022 to September 30, 2022, affecting over 6.5 million barrels of refined fuel output.  These hedges severely limited Vertex's ability to capitalize on the record-high crack spreads that existed at the time of the acquisition and resulted in over $90 million in losses in the second quarter of fiscal year 2022;

(b)prior to the acquisition of the Mobile refinery, Defendants had entered into an inventory intermediation agreement with the investment bank Macquarie Group, whereby Macquarie purchased (from third parties), owned, and sold (to Vertex) all crude oil inventory to be used at the Mobile refinery and also purchased (from Vertex), owned, and sold (to third parties) all refined fuel inventory produced at the Mobile refinery.  The strict terms of the arrangement, including requiring Vertex to purchase hedges to protect Macquarie's position in holding the crude and refined inventory, combined with the fact that the oil market was in a state of backwardation in early 2022, resulted in Vertex incurring significant fees and inventory losses.  The losses, which began as of the April 1, 2022 acquisition date, totaled $23 million during the second quarter of fiscal year 2022;

(c) prior to the acquisition of the Mobile refinery, Defendants had entered into an inventory purchase agreement with Shell Oil as part of the Mobile acquisition agreement.  Vertex had anticipated purchasing approximately $100 million of crude oil and refined fuel inventory.  Immediately prior to the closing of the acquisition, Vertex learned that pursuant to the terms of the purchase agreement, it would be required to purchase substantially more inventory from Shell Oil, totaling $164 million.  Due to the state of backwardation in the oil market, Vertex was forced to pay Shell Oil above-market prices for the additional crude oil inventory.  The additional Shell Oil inventory purchase triggered $13.3 million in inventory losses at or around the time of the acquisition;

(d) immediately following the acquisition of the Mobile refinery, Vertex experienced production issues that caused significant shortfalls in refined fuel volumes.  The production issues resulted in $8 million of lost profits during the second quarter of fiscal year 2022;

(e) following the acquisition of the Mobile refinery, Defendants overstated the purported profit margins that could be achieved at the refinery.  Defendants represented that the "3-2-1 crack spread" was the appropriate benchmark for the Mobile refinery; however, it was later revealed that the "2-1-1 crack spread," which resulted in lower profits per barrel of production, was the more accurate profit benchmark for the Mobile refinery; and

(f) as a result of the above misrepresentations and concealed facts, the Mobile refinery did not "generate[] strong EBITDA]" "[d]uring the first 30 days of operations," and the Mobile refinery transition was not "seamless."

On August 9, 2022, before the market opened, Vertex filed with the SEC a Form 8-K that included its second quarter 2022 earnings release, and held an earnings conference call for analysts and investors (the "Q2 earnings call").  In the earnings release, and on the call, Vertex disclosed the massive losses incurred at the Mobile refinery during the second quarter of 2022.  Vertex announced a net loss for the Company of $63.8 million.  Vertex also announced that adjusted EBITDA for the Mobile refinery, even after adjusting for certain incurred losses, was only $63.6 million, compared to the guidance given just three months prior for EBITDA of $120-$130 million in the second quarter, a total shortfall of 50%.  Vertex also withdrew its financial guidance for the remainder of fiscal year 2022 and fiscal year 2023.

In response to this news, the price of Vertex common stock collapsed by $6.18 per share, or 44%, on August 9, 2022, on abnormally high trading volume of more than 27 million shares traded.  The share price continued to fall in subsequent days as the market digested the news, reaching a low of just $7.05 per share on August 11, 2022, roughly 50% below the closing price on August 8, 2022, and over 60% lower than the Class Period high of $18.10 per share in June 2022.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered billions of dollars in damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com.

CONTACT:
Robert S. Willoughby
Pomerantz LLP
[email protected]
888-476-6529 ext. 7980

SOURCE Pomerantz LLP