VeraSun to Auction off Seven Fuel-Ethanol Plants Representing 640 Million Gallons of Annual Capacity

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--VeraSun Energy Corporation (NYSE:VSE) (Brookings, South Dakota), the nation's second largest ethanol producer, will auction off seven fuel-ethanol plants representing 640 million gallons of annual company that the company acquired when it merged with U.S. BioEnergy. According to court filings, the auction will take place between March 16 and March 31.

The plants up for sale are located in Albert City (110MM gal/yr) and Dyersville (110MM gal/yr) in Iowa; Ord (50MM gal/yr) and Central City (100MM gal/yr) in Nebraska; Woodbury (50MM gal/yr), Michigan; Janesville (110MM gal/yr), Minnesota; and Hankinson (110MM gal/yr), North Dakota. The plants will sit in "hot idle" until April 30, and no plants are expected to resume production until the second quarter of 2009.

VeraSun will more than likely continue to own and operate 10 plants in Albion (110MM gal/yr), Nebraska; Marion (110MM gal/yr) and Aurora (120MM gal/yr) in South Dakota; Bloomingburg (110MM gal/yr), Ohio; Charles City (110MM gal/yr), Fort Dodge (110MM gal/yr) and Hartley (110MM gal/yr) in Iowa; Reynolds (110MM gal/yr) and Linden (110MM gal/yr) in Indiana; and Welcome (110MM gal/yr), Minnesota. All plants combined represent 1.1 billion gallons of annual production capacity.

VeraSun fell into financial woes when it got into corn futures at a high price rate. Since entering the contract, corn prices fell from record prices in the $8 per bushel range to below $4 per bushel in today's market. VeraSun filed for bankruptcy protection in October 2008.

Industrial Info's Ethanol Database provides a comprehensive outline of all current development activities in the emerging alternative fuels market. This database covers 177 ethanol plants in operation and 530 plants under development. It also covers 145 operational biodiesel plants and 245 biodiesel plants under development.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process, energy and financial related markets with products and services ranging from industry news, analytics, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia services.