Ensus Sold July 22, 2013 12:00 am The Ensus bioethanol plant on Teesside has been sold. A German company, CropEnergies AG, has purchased the facility from its previous owners the private equity firm Carlyle. CropEnergies is part of the Sudzucker group and has paid a reported £11.6m in shares for the Ensus plant which cost £250m to build. The new owners have said they will invest a further £50m to improve efficiencies at the site which has struggled with a number of technical and market-related problems. It has closed three times since opening in 2010, and has yet to hit its projected intake capacity of 1.1m of grain per year. CropEnergies already operates plants in Germany, Belgium and France, and the UK wheat market couldreceive a boost if new management can fully realise the plant’s potential.
