Holland & Knight Represents Verbio in Acquisition of South Bend Ethanol

HOUSTON (May 2, 2023) – Holland & Knight advised Verbio North America Holdings Corporation in the closing of a purchase agreement with Mercuria Investments U.S. Inc. to acquire South Bend Ethanol LLC, an operating ethanol plant located in South Bend, Indiana.

This will be Verbio's second U.S. production facility following the successful commissioning of its Nevada, Iowa, plant. Verbio intends to expand and develop the South Bend plant into a modern biorefinery at an estimated total investment of $230 million by integrating the production of ethanol with renewable natural gas (RNG).

Integration of the ethanol production with the RNG production process will result in higher efficiencies and improved sustainability. The site will be developed over the next three years, incorporating Verbio's advanced engineering and operating technology practices. Following commissioning, the production capacity of the plant will be at 85 million gallons of corn ethanol and 2.8 billion cubic feet of RNG per year.

Verbio North America Holdings, with offices in Stamford, Connecticut, and Livonia, Michigan, is a subsidiary of Verbio Vereinigte BioEnergie AG, which is based in Leipzig, Germany.

More information about the transaction can be found here.

Holland & Knight Partner Ram Sunkara and Associate Trevor Ruff led the deal for Verbio. They were assisted by Partners Joshua Belcher, Amish Shah, Robert Lorndale, Marc Druckman, Peter Connolly, Antonia Tzinova and Susan Lafferty, Associate Sergio Fontanez, Senior Public Affairs Advisor Glenn Werner and Paralegals Kathleen Wheeler and Dianne Holmes.