Wood pellets maker Altus’ sale kicks off; bids due mid-September
FTI Consulting has given wood pellets maker Altus Renewables’ suitors until September 15 to prepare their indicative bids for the business, which landed in receivership last week.
A flyer mailed out to prospective buyers on Tuesday said FTI was open to offers for the entire company or for its assets. It showed no preference for a deed of company arrangement, asset sale or a combination for the two structures.
The company has a development site near the Port of Portland in Victoria. Damian Goodman
Due diligence is slated to begin on August 30 following expressions of interest on August 29. After receiving non-binding indicative offers on September 15, FTI will assess them and funding arrangements before setting a timeline for final bids.
Altus has production facilities close to forestry areas with access to port infrastructure. Its Tuan Facility has a 125,000 tonnes annual capacity and is running at 90,000 tonnes, according to the flyer. Prospective bidders were told that the company is in the third year of a 10-year offtake. It also has a development site, the Green Triangle Project, near Portland.
Queensland-based Altus used pine sawdust to make pellets, supplying the product as a complementary source of fuel for power stations. It was hurt by rising raw material costs, which ate into profitability despite rising revenues.
It appointed McGrathNicol as the administrators this month, which was followed by lender Mitsui calling FTI as the receivers. Mitsui, which is an offtake counterparty as well as a lender, was owed $14.5 million at June last year. Export Finance Australia was owned $2.1 million and National Australia Bank had a lease facility tapped for $118,000.
It is a complete U-turn for the company, which was
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