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Renew Energy ethanol plant should keep running
Renew Energy says it does not have any plans to shut-down their ethanol plant in Jefferson, Wisconsin. Recently the company filed notice of potential layoffs with the state as part of its bankruptcy proceedings but it was mainly a formality. CEO Jeff White says the plant is running, it is profitable, they are talking with several potential buyers and they expect to come out of bankruptcy sometime in January “We’re making money so why would you close the plant down?”
As part of the bankruptcy process they have appointed a Stalking Horse Bid under which a buyer creates a market by agreeing to buy the company at a certain price, “Which is $55 million plus receivables and inventory. That will be subject to an auction on December 11th” White expects any buyer to retain most if not all of the employees. “A couple of senior managers might be exposed including myself but other than that I expect to see all of the employees employed.”
The plant is running at about two-thirds capacity but he says that is due mainly to the economics in the industry right now and tight corn supplies. In fact, they have just fired-up their 10,000 bushel-per-hour grain dryer so the company can accept corn straight from the field.
Jeff White talks about the situation:
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