Activist investor urges US Green Plains to find buyer

Ancora Holdings Group LLC, the second-largest shareholder of Green Plains Inc (NASDAQ:GPRE), on Tuesday urged the US biorefining company to start a review of strategic alternatives, including a sale, as a way to cope with the current macroeconomic challenges amid significant interest in renewable energy businesses.

Shares in the Omaha, Nebraska-based target company closed 11.98% higher at USD 34.77 on the news in New York on Monday, implying a market capitalisation of about USD 2.06 billion (EUR 1.89bn).

Ancora, with a stake of nearly 7%, believes that Green Plains’ initial efforts to transform itself from an ethanol producer to a sustainable biorefinery platform have turned it into a highly attractive business for strategic acquirers in the agricultural products and energy sectors. The investor noted that a potential sale would yield at least USD 50 per Green Plains share.

“We believe it is in the best interests of all shareholders for the Board to promptly retain an independent financial advisor to carry out a market test and see what qualified buyers would pay to acquire all of Green Plains,” the activist shareholder noted in a letter to Green Plains’ board.

Green Plains processes annually renewable crops into low-carbon, sustainable ingredients through fermentation and patented ag-technologies. It is currently transforming its business to become a biorefinery platform producing low-carbon biofuels, renewable feedstocks for advanced biofuels and high-protein ingredients, among others.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.919)

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