Berggruen Holdings sought financing for its portfolio company, Cascade Grain, to construct and operate the largest ethanol plant on the west coast
The plant, a state of the art 113.4 million gallon per year corn-based dry mill fuel grade facility, was to be the first large scale plant in the Pacific Northwest
Challenges
Hurdles in consummating a transaction included:
Uncertainty about how the industry will evolve
Inherent risks such as commodity price mismatch between the corn supply and the output
Solution
FocalPoint contacted a number of project finance banks and effectively communicated the relative strengths of the plant including:
Low cost of production
Strong strategic partnerships
FocalPoint and Berggruen ultimately selected WestLB to lead a $100 million senior credit facility which was more than 1.5 times oversubscribed
