Abengoa to sell Ravenna ethanol plant in Nebraska

Abengoa has announced it is to sell Ravenna Bioenergy ethanol plant in Nebraska (US) to a subsidiary of KAAPA Ethanol of Minden.

KE Holdings was the only bidder for the Ravenna plant, and the new ownership subsidiary will be KAPPA Ethanol Ravenna LLC.

The plant will be sold for US$115 million and the acquisition is expected to be completed by September 30. The sales must be approved at a Bankruptcy Court hearing Monday in St. Louis.

The plant suspended operation for several weeks and it was reopened after Abengoa secured a US$41 million bankruptcy loan in late March. The Ravenna plant is operating at its capacity of 90 million gallons per year, which requires 33 million bushels of corn.

This is the fourth U.S. ethanol plant that the Spanish company Abengoa has sold  in connection with the company’s global restructuring to resolve bankruptcy proceedings in Spain and U.S. courts. The four sales reached a total value of more than US$355 million

Omaha-based Green Plains Inc. was the successful bidder for the three other U.S. plants, in York, Nebraska; Mount Vernon, Indiana; and Madison, Illinois.

KAAPA Ethanol Chief Executive Officer Chuck Woodside said:

“We are anxious to get in and get started. Harvest is just around the corner. Work will be done soon to enhance ground storage facilities at Ravenna".