Construction set to resume at Mount Vernon ethanol plant

Ethanol producer Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings, Inc., has emerged from its 13-month period in bankruptcy, with a new structure and management team.

The company based in Pekin, Illinois, has appointed Thomas Manuel as its new chief executive officer,

Aventine had voluntarily filed for bankruptcy status at the US Bankruptcy Court for Delaware back in February 2009, as the ethanol industry faced soaring corn prices and competition from lower petroleum prices.

Since then, the company used debtor-in-possession financing from its noteholders to allow operations to continue.

The company has two facilities producing ethanol from grain and corn, a 50 million gallon per year facility in Aurora, Nebraska, and a 100-million-gallon plant at its home base in Pekin, 160 miles south west of Chicago.

Along with its marketing activities, the company supplied almost 690 million gallons of ethanol back in 2007.

Under its replacement management team, the Aventine said its new strategy would be to push for low-cost ethanol.

New plants

The company plans to resume the construction of its two partially-completed 108-million-gallon-per-annum biorefinery projects in Aurora, Nebraska, and Mt Vernon, Indiana. Both projects were “within months” of completion when the firm’s bankruptcy brought development to a halt.

Announcing the company’s emergence from bankruptcy yesterday, Mr Manuel said:”Emerging from bankruptcy with good liquidity, modest debt and lower overhead costs, Aventine is well positioned to be one of the low cost providers of ethanol on a national basis.

New CEO Mr Manuel was formerly CEO at Dallas-based ethanol start-up AS Alliances Biofuels before it was snapped up by VeraSun in August 2007.

Since then, he has been a consultant with restructuring specialists CRG Partners. Mr Manuel’s background was in the food processing and energy merchandising industries.

"we anticipate a strong rebound as the biofuels mandate continues to increase” - Thomas Manuel, Aventine Renewable Holdings"

Commenting on the way forward with Aventine, Mr Manuel said yesterday: “Aventine will emerge as a much stronger business with all the key pieces: a restructured balance sheet, excellent liquidity, and a committed group of employees led by a new senior management team.”

Standards

Mr Manuel said Aventine would benefit from this year’s revision to the Renewable Fuel Standards, which have set higher requirements for fuel suppliers to buy biofuels.

“The ethanol industry has sound long-term prospects, and we anticipate a strong rebound as the biofuels mandate continues to increase,” said the new Aventine chief.

source: brighterenergy.org