Tiger Group’s Remarketing Services Division has announced the turnkey sale of the assets of a renewable energy plant in Rialto, Calif., formerly owned by EnerTech Environmental, Inc., to Anaergia Inc., a global leader in the production of clean energy, fertilizer and recycled water from organic waste streams.
Tiger, along with partner Hackman Capital, purchased the facility in July out of an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors. The companies had scheduled to sell the assets piecemeal at an auction in cooperation with Aaron Equipment. Due to the sale, the webcast auction originally scheduled for November 13 was cancelled.
The $160 million southern California operation—considered the only facility of its kind in the U.S.—includes both a wastewater treatment facility and a sewage sludge drying line. The facility was launched in June 2009 by Atlanta-based EnerTech and was closed by the now-defunct company in October 2012.
Anaergia, which is based in Burlington, Ontario,announced that it plans to improve efficiencies, upgrade technologies and create a state-of-the-art organics processing facility using proven, best-in-class technologies. These investments will allow the company to expand facility processing capacity in the same footprint, while helping cities manage biosolid challenges and divert organic waste from landfills.
“The management of biosolids from wastewater treatment plant operations is becoming an increasingly complex and expensive challenge for municipalities,” said Arun Sharma, President of Anaergia Services LLC, located in Carlsbad, Calif. “This facility will provide a secure, long-term solution for beneficial reuse of biosolids and other organic waste streams.”
Commenting on the turnkey sale of the facility, Jeff Tanenbaum, President of Tiger’s Remarketing Services Division, said: “For an auctioneer, there’s nothing more satisfying than finding an operator for a shuttered facility. Under Anaergia, we expect this facility to realize its potential of providing numerous environmental and economic benefits. This was clearly the optimal solution for a site that appeared headed for dismantling and piecemeal sale.”
The Rialto facility was originally built to provide a long-term recycling plan for five municipalities in the Los Angeles region by converting their wastewater sludge into a renewable solid fuel called eFuel. According to former plant management, before running into financial troubles and shuttering operations, the plant had processed approximately 250,000 wet tons of wastewater sludge and produced over 75,000 tons of eFuel pellets, which it sold to local cement kilns and demonstrated in combustion power plant applications.
Tiger Group provides asset valuation, advisory and disposition services to a broad range of retail, wholesale, and industrial clients.