Wood pellet supplier earns multi-million cash injection

Wood pellet and biomass supplier Enviva has closed on its first corporate borrowing plan.

The company will receive a senior secured credit facility of $120 million (€94.2 million). Three major banks, namely Barclays, Goldman Sachs USA and Royal Bank of Canada, all served as joint lead arrangers.

The proceeds will be used by Enviva to complete the construction of two new 500,000 metric ton per year pellet mills, one each in Virginia and North Carolina. Another plan for the injection will be to increase the storage capacity of its deep-water port terminal in Virginia to around 100,000 metric tons.

‘This substantial commitment by the joint lead arrangers and the other financing banks is an important step in right-sizing our balance sheet,’ says Envia CFO Steve Reeves. ‘As one of the first credit underwritings of its kind in the emerging biomass renewable energy sector, we're delighted by the strong show of confidence from leaders in the banking industry.’

When complete in 2013, Enviva will have a combined annual capacity of 1.72 million tons of combined annual capacity when projects complete next year.