Versalis wins bid to acquire four Mossi & Ghisolfi Group companies

In October 2017, financially troubled Mossi & Ghisolfi Group, an international group of companies specialised in the design, engineering, and construction of chemical processes and chemical compound plants within the polymer, polyester and biofuels sectors was granted “concordato preventivo” by the Court of Alessandria, Italy and Chapter 11 in the District of Delaware for its companies in the United States (US).

Versalis has now won the bidding process ordered by the Court of Alessandria for four of Mossi & Ghisolfi’s Group’s Italian companies that operated in the “green” sector – Biochemtex, Beta Renewables, Ipb (Italian BioProducts) and Ipb Energia. The transfer of the related business units will be formally agreed in the coming weeks, in compliance with legal procedures and deadlines.

The operation includes assets and resources related to development activities, industrialisation, licensing of technologies and biochemical processes based on the use of renewable biomass resources. The industrial plant at Crescentino (Vercelli) produces bio-ethanol, as well as green electricity by using the lignin by-product as fuel.

According to a statement, the innovative aspect of these processes is the PROESA technology, which is used to convert biomass into second generation sugars and the subsequent production of biofuels or, potentially, other biochemical intermediates.

This know-how “reinforces Versalis’ competitive position in the bio-based chemical industry, creating synergies with ongoing research projects, and will allow the development of an integrated technological platform of chemicals from biomass, in line with the strategy undertaken in recent years.”