It might not be a good 2016 for Spain’s largest renewable energy company, Abengoa SA, as it teeters on bankruptcy following a huge stock price fall by more than 50% when the company announced on November 25 that it failed to close a deal with a major new investor, Gonvarri Steel Industries, a subsidiary of the international metals company Gestamp. Gonvarri said it would not proceed with a plan to invest EUR250 million ($371 million) in Abengoa.
Abengoa said it will continue negotiations with its creditors under the protection of the Spanish Insolvency Law. It now has four months to reach an agreement with creditors to avoid a full-blown insolvency process and reportedly the biggest Spanish bankruptcy on record.
Abengoa reportedly has around $9.5 billion of gross debt. In the US, Abengoa Bioenergy reportedly intends to operate its ethanol plants in a normal course of business according to this recent article from Biomass Magazine. Abengoa Bioenergy opened its 25 million gal/year cellulosic ethanol plant in October last year. The plant is said to be still in a ramp-up phase, which is expected to last through 2016.
Abengoa reportedly invested more than $3 billion in renewable energy projects in the US including solar power projects. Most of Abengoa’s renewable energy assets in the US are owned by Abengoa Yield, the US-based subsidiary of of Abengoa SA.
Abengoa also has several internal small projects and patents on the bio-based chemicals front such as bio-based n-butanol and catalysts to produce ethanol-based chemicals
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This is a major blow to the confidence in the cellulosic ethanol and renewable energy market if major, apparent financially stable companies, are seen to catch a cold.
Posted by Kamla Jevons | December 2, 2015, 10:25 am