Ethanol and Biofuels

Our seasoned lawyers are well-versed in the development, financing and sale of biofuels, and have brought this experience to bear in representing investors and lenders in projects involving more than 2 billion gallons of capacity of ethanol and biodiesel projects. We have assisted clients in development, acquisition and financing of ethanol production facilities, land-fill gas production facilities and refineries for biofuels and synthetic fuels; regulatory and permitting matters; negotiated commercial project documents, such as construction contracts, off-take and marketing agreements, commodity supply contracts, operations and maintenance agreements, and equipment supply and warranty agreements; and structured debt and equity financing.

Recent representative deals include:

North American Petrochemical “Deal of the Year” 2007 (USA) – Abengoa Bioenergy Project –  Project Finance Magazine
Milbank represented the lenders, WestLB and Banco Santander and a syndicate of other lenders, in the $300 million financing for the construction of two ethanol plants in the Midwest U.S. by Abengoa Bioenergy Holdings U.S., Inc., a subsidiary of Spanish company Abengoa, S.A. As a result of strong demand, the transaction was reverse-flexed, achieving the tightest pricing to date for a greenfield ethanol financing.

EnerTech (USA)
We represented Deutsche Bank Securities as the arranger and bond purchaser in the $159 million tax exempt bond financing used to develop and construct the 750 wet tons per day waste sludge to renewable fuels project developed by EnerTech Corp in California.

We also represented lenders in the financing of several ethanol production facilities in the United States, and in the project financing for GreenHunter BioFuels Inc. of a 105 million gallon per year biofuel refinery and upgraded methanol and biofuels terminal facility in Houston, Texas.