Del.icio.us  Digg  facebook  MySpace  Twitter  Google  Bookmark Me  LinkedIn  StumbleUpon  Permalink

Sale of VeraSun Ethanol Facilities Approved

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware has approved the proposed auction of ethanol plants by South Dakota-based VeraSun Energy. The auction will take place on March 16.

Under rules approved by Judge Brendan Shannon, Valero Energy Corp. of San Antonio will open bidding for five of VeraSun's ethanol plants at $280 million. Secured lenders will be allowed to "credit bid" during the auction, meaning that they can use cancellation of debt rather than cash toward the purchase of the plants.

So far there have been no offers for any of the other plants owned by VeraSun. including its ASA and US BioEnergy strings of plants. However in order to win approval by the court for the auction, VeraSun agreed that these plants, which were acquired shortly before the company went bankrupt, must be sold by the end of March.