Australian conglomerate CSR plans to sell its sugar, ethanol and renewables unit Sucrogen to Singapore-based agribusiness group Wilmar International for A$1.75bn ($1.47bn). This trumps a rival bid of the same value from Chinese conglomerate Bright Food.
Following the sale of Surcogen the company will be focused on its building materials operations and its investments in aluminium smelters, CSR chairman Ian Blackburne said. We have been working towards this objective for some time and having explored a number of strategic alternatives, the board believes that a sale to Wilmar is in the best interests of shareholders and stakeholders in CSR.
CSR is Australia's largest power generator from biomass, using sugarcane waste, with capacity of 171MW from co-generation plants located at its seven sugar mills in Queensland. The mills consume about 66MW of power each year, leaving a surplus of 105MW sold into the National Electricity Market. Sucrogen is also Australia's largest producer of ethanol from sugarcane.
Following the sale of Surcogen the company will be focused on its building materials operations and its investments in aluminium smelters, CSR chairman Ian Blackburne said. We have been working towards this objective for some time and having explored a number of strategic alternatives, the board believes that a sale to Wilmar is in the best interests of shareholders and stakeholders in CSR.
CSR is Australia's largest power generator from biomass, using sugarcane waste, with capacity of 171MW from co-generation plants located at its seven sugar mills in Queensland. The mills consume about 66MW of power each year, leaving a surplus of 105MW sold into the National Electricity Market. Sucrogen is also Australia's largest producer of ethanol from sugarcane.
