Two lenders of Tustin-based Commerce Energy Group Inc. are taking over all shares held by the company after it defaulted on loans.
AP Finance LLC and Universal Energy Group Ltd. are getting all Commerce Energy shares held by the company as well as other stocks it owns.
Commerce Energy said it could have contested the move but it only would have delayed the shares takeover by the lenders.
As part of an agreement with the lenders, Commerce plans to throw a bone to other shareholders in the form of a $2.6 million dividend.
Commerce Energy shares trade on the American Stock Exchange with a recent market value of $3 million, after a 95% drop since early 2007.
The company resells electricity and natural gas bought from big utilities such as Southern California Edison Co.
It has spent much of 2008 working with lenders and financiers and cutting jobs.
For the 12 months through July, the company lost $32 million, versus a $5.5 million profit a year earlier. Revenue was up 24% to $460 million, a gain fueled by higher energy prices.
Commerce Energy formed in 1998 to take advantage of energy deregulation allowing businesses and homeowners to buy power from companies other than the big utilities.
But after California’s energy crisis in 2000, a loosening of energy buying regulations never realized as expected.
