Major European wood pellet producer acquires Texas, US company
One of the largest pellet producers in Europe, Graanul Invest, has acquired Texas Pellets Inc and German Pellets Texas, collectively Texas Pellets. The wood biomass pellet manufacturer was purchased for $63 million (€56.6 million) in a deal which closed on 18 June 2019.
Texas Pellets operated a 500,000 metric tonne nameplate manufacturing facility in Woodville Texas, US, and a pellet storage facility and shipping terminal in Port Arthur, Texas. The company was an affiliate of German Pellets GmbH and related companies. Texas Pellets filed for bankruptcy in 2016, however, it suffered two major further setbacks. In early 2017, the company experienced a fire on its ship loader and in spring 2017, a fire broke out inside one of the company’s storage silos, causing it to collapse. Over the subsequent two years, Texas Pellets focused on rebuilding its leading storage and ship loading facility.
Configure Partners, a leading middle market investment bank, served Texas Pellets in the sale of all of its assets. Configure assisted the company in the evaluation of its strategic alternatives and provides advice around key considerations of the sale process. Configure approached a range of financial investors as well as strategic investors in the biomass industry.
“Executing challenging sale processes such as Texas Pellets is a hallmark of Configure’s business,” said Jay Jacquin, managing director at Configure. “The two fires, the resulting reconstruction process and other issues that arose along the way were significant items that needed to be expertly explained and properly positioned to potential buyers in order to elicit the price that was achieved.”
Texas Pellets operated a 500,000 metric tonne nameplate manufacturing facility in Woodville Texas, US, and a pellet storage facility and shipping terminal in Port Arthur, Texas. The company was an affiliate of German Pellets GmbH and related companies. Texas Pellets filed for bankruptcy in 2016, however, it suffered two major further setbacks. In early 2017, the company experienced a fire on its ship loader and in spring 2017, a fire broke out inside one of the company’s storage silos, causing it to collapse. Over the subsequent two years, Texas Pellets focused on rebuilding its leading storage and ship loading facility.
Configure Partners, a leading middle market investment bank, served Texas Pellets in the sale of all of its assets. Configure assisted the company in the evaluation of its strategic alternatives and provides advice around key considerations of the sale process. Configure approached a range of financial investors as well as strategic investors in the biomass industry.
“Executing challenging sale processes such as Texas Pellets is a hallmark of Configure’s business,” said Jay Jacquin, managing director at Configure. “The two fires, the resulting reconstruction process and other issues that arose along the way were significant items that needed to be expertly explained and properly positioned to potential buyers in order to elicit the price that was achieved.”
