January 21, 2015 – Green Biologics Ltd. (“GBL”), a UK based industrial biotechnology and renewable chemicals company, announced today the closing of a $42 million follow-on equity funding round co-led by existing investors Swire Pacific Limited and Sofinnova Partners. Additionally, in conjunction with the closing of the Central MN Ethanol Co-op (“CMEC”) acquisition, certain CMEC shareholders elected to receive their sale proceeds in a debt and equity investment into Central MN Renewables LLC (“CMR”) through a new surviving entity, Renewable Partners LLC. Ocean Park Advisors (“OPA”) acted as financial advisor to CMEC on the CMR consideration election structuring and process.

GBL previously announced the acquisition of the assets of CMEC, a 21 MGPY ethanol plant in Little Falls, Minnesota through its CMR subsidiary on December 23, 2014. It plans to repurpose the plant to produce renewable normal butanol (n-butanol), acetone and related co-products in 2016, but will continue to operate as an ethanol plant until construction and repurposing are completed.

“We are extremely pleased with the successful funding round from our existing investors as well as from our new investors and partners, including the shareholders of CMEC,” said Green Biologics CFO Tom Grote. “The OPA team played an instrumental role in negotiating and structuring the agreements that facilitated CMEC’s investment as well as communicating the new option to remain as an investor in the new project company. This debt and equity investment in CMR provides us with the necessary capital to implement the repurposing of the CMR plant.”

Dana Persson, CMEC CEO, remarked, “CMEC was well represented with OPA in its corner throughout the entire process. There were various agreements to be negotiated between the parties and the OPA team brought invaluable expertise and provided excellent advice in structuring the option of investment for our shareholders.”

As part of the GBL Series B funding round, a follow-on investment was also made by Capricorn Venture Partners, Oxford Capital Partners, Morningside Technology Partners and ConvergInce Holdings LLC. The equity round was complemented by additional new debt financing by Tennenbaum Capital Partners, LLC (TCP), bringing the total funding of the round to $76 million. This follows GBL’s Series B round of $25 million in December 2013, bringing the total financing since late 2013 to $100.2 million.

Mark Fisler, Ocean Park Managing Director, commented, “We are delighted with the outcome of this transaction and look forward to the leadership role that Green Biologics will play as a global leader in renewable chemicals. In addition, we are pleased that we were able to structure the option for the CMEC founding shareholders to remain an investor in this exciting proposition.”

For the Green Biologics press release, please visit:
http://www.greenbiologics.com/news.php

 

About Central MN Ethanol Co-op
Established in 1995, Central MN Ethanol Co-op is an ethanol production company based in Little Falls, Minnesota. Located in the northern Corn Belt, CMEC purchases 7.5 million bushels of corn annually and produces 21 million gallons of ethanol per year. The plant also generates revenue from ethanol co-products, including dried distillers grains, wet distillers grains, corn oil and syrup.

About Green Biologics
Green Biologics Ltd is a renewable chemicals company based in Abingdon, England with a wholly owned U.S. operating company, Green Biologics Inc., based in Gahanna, Ohio. GBL’s Clostridium fermentation platform converts a wide range of sustainable feedstocks into high performance green chemicals such as n-butanol, acetone, and through chemical synthesis, derivatives of butanol and acetone used by a growing global consumer and industrial products customer base.

Green Biologics was named to the Global Cleantech 100 list of the top Cleantech companies in the world for 2014. The company was also #6 on the Hottest Small Companies in the Bioeconomy and #28 on the Hottest 30 list for Bio-based Chemicals and Materials for 2014. Green Biologics is transforming the global chemicals market, providing its customers with products and technology that are more sustainable and higher value than petroleum-based alternatives. For more information, please visit www.greenbiologics.com.

About Ocean Park Advisors
Ocean Park Advisors is a corporate finance advisory firm that advises on mergers and acquisitions, financings and restructurings with extensive experience in the biofuels and cleantech industries. Ocean Park Advisors operates a branch office of Stonnington Group LLC, a member of FINRA and SIPC. Any securities are offered through Stonnington Group LLC, 21031 Ventura Blvd., Suite 1201, Woodland Hills, CA 91364, (818) 444-0600. OPA’s professionals are licensed registered representatives of Stonnington Group. For more information, please visit www.oceanparkadvisors.com.