Kodak Shares Surge 60% Premarket on Report of Loan Probe Outcome

(Bloomberg) –Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE:KODK) surged about 60% in premarket trading after a press report that a probe found no wrongdoing regarding a government loan to the photography giant turned pharmaceutical manufacturer.

The inspector general of the agency that brokered the deal, the U.S. International Development Finance Corp., discovered no evidence that employees of the agency had any conflicts of interest in the plans, nor was there “any evidence of misconduct on the part of DFC officials,” the Wall Street Journal reported.

Neither Kodak nor the DFC immediately responded to requests for comment left outside normal office hours.

Kodak shares surged almost tenfold in July after the Rochester, New York-based firm made a surprise move into the health care world and disclosed the award of a $765 million loan to manufacture Covid-19 drug materials as part of a government program. The stock gave back a large part of those gains as the investigation put the loan on hold.

Kodak was up 59% to $11.95 at 5:12am in New York premarket trading.

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