Astec Investors Appeal Loss in Wood Pellet Plant Business Case

Astec Industries Inc. investors who allege the company misled them about its foray into the wood pellet plant business are taking their case to the Sixth Circuit after a federal judge in Tennessee dismissed their suit.

Investors accuse the industrial conglomerate of making misleading statements about how some wood pellet plants it purchased were faring. They didn’t specifically identify “why the statements they believe are misleading are in fact misleading” or adequately plead that Astec meant to mislead them, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee ruled in February.

The lower court also rejected the investors’ pre-dismissal ...