VOLNEY — A Georgia firm expects to take ownership of Sunoco LP’s (NYSE: SUN) corn ethanol plant and grain-malting operation near Fulton during the first quarter of 2019. Attis Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: ATIS) on Jan. 22 announced that it plans to pay $20 million in cash for the property at 376 Owens Road in the […]
Get Instant Access to This Article
Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.
- Critical Central New York business news and analysis updated daily.
- Immediate access to all subscriber-only content on our website.
- Get a year's worth of the Print Edition of The Central New York Business Journal.
- Special Feature Publications such as the Book of Lists and Revitalize Greater Binghamton, Mohawk Valley, and Syracuse Magazines
Click here to purchase a paywall bypass link for this article.
VOLNEY — A Georgia firm expects to take ownership of Sunoco LP’s (NYSE: SUN) corn ethanol plant and grain-malting operation near Fulton during the first quarter of 2019.
Attis Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: ATIS) on Jan. 22 announced that it plans to pay $20 million in cash for the property at 376 Owens Road in the town of Volney.
Its overall plan for the site includes adding up to 100 new jobs.
The plant, which produces 80 million gallons of ethanol annually, will become the “essential element” of Attis’ “expanding” technology portfolio as it develops the site into the “most comprehensive Green Tech campus for renewable fuels in the country,” the firm proclaimed in a news release.
Milton, Georgia–based Attis Industries describes itself as a “diversified innovation and technology holding company.” Attis’ management team has a “long-standing” relationship with Sunoco and the operational team in place at the Volney ethanol facility, per the release.
Attis Industries’ plan
Attis plans to spend $80 million to renovate the facility into a research and development campus for renewable fuels. As part of this plan, the company also expects to add up to 100 new high-paying, skilled jobs in the region.
The Volney plant currently has 75 employees and spans more than 90 acres, according to the plant’s page on the Sunoco ethanol website.
The deal also involves a 10-year agreement for Sunoco to purchase all ethanol produced at the facility, which Attis considers “the key to the success of this transaction.”
The improvements made at the facility over the next 24 months will transform the site into a renewable-energy campus.
For its part, Sunoco said in a separate news release that it expects to use the proceeds of the ethanol-plant sale to “repay indebtedness as it continues to maintain its targeted leverage ratio.”
“The acquisition of Sunoco’s Fulton ethanol plant is a significant step in Attis establishing a foothold in the renewable fuel space, while accessing the fourth largest gasoline market in the United States,” Jeff Cosman, CEO of Attis Industries, said in the release. “Attis’ familiarity with the facility as well as the progressive business environment in the state of New York provide us with a unique opportunity to transform an asset with incredible potential into an innovative campus for bio-based fuel that is consistent with our short and long-term growth strategy.”
Attis believes the demand for low-carbon energy sources will “continue to increase” in the coming years and Attis is “well positioned to be able to grow with that trend,” he added.
“The Fulton ethanol facility generates significant revenue for our growing company, it greatly changes the perspective of our investors in Attis and enables Attis to roll-out additional technology platforms under the innovations division to expand our revenue and cash flow projections over the next two years. Having an established asset like the Fulton, NY ethanol plant on the books allows us greater access to financing opportunities, as well as provides us with a shovel ready site to begin the development and commercialization of some of our previously announced technologies,” said Cosman.
1886 Malt House
Included within the acquisition is the 1886 Malt House, which is a “direct beneficiary of incentives” designed to promote the local farm to brewery industry, Attis said.
The 1886 Malt House is located on the site of the Sunoco agri-business complex in Volney, per its website. Sunoco in 2015 announced the creation of the craft-malting facility co-located with the Sunoco ethanol plant.
In 2013, New York created a farm-brewery law to provide licenses only to those farmers whose beer is made primarily from locally grown farm products, Attis said. Under this program, the Malt House will receive some tax-exempt status and contribute to the $4 billion per year craft-brewery business in the state of New York.