UK-based investment firm Future Capital Partners is set to acquire Appomattox Bio Energy and its new plant in Virginia, US.
This move help the company come good on its plans to lower the costs at a planned bioethanol plant in Grimsby, England with the transaction estimated at $220m.
Future Capital will in turn sell the assets to its investment vehicle Future Fuels Partnership that is developing the Grimsby’s bioethanol plant.
The Grimsby plant is expected to have a capacity to produce about 220 million liters of bioethanol and 175,000 tons of high-protein animal feed annually, reports the Bloomberg.
Commenting on the deal Future Capital Renewable Energy associate director Jonathan Turney was quoted by the news agency as saying that the project plays a key role in the nation’s goal to achieve long-term renewable energy targets.
About three-fourths of the plant and machinery may be shipped from Virginia to the U.K. to build the new plant, added Turney.
In order to meet the European Union targets, UK aims to get 5% of transport fuels from renewables including bioethanol by 2014, and 10% by 2020.
According to the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the capacity for bioethanol production in the country at the end of 2011 was about 475 million liters.