Viridas placing takes it to next stage

The placing is part of a planned series of fund-raisings to be used mainly to establish a new administrative organisation in Salvador, Brazil, and to acquire and plant up to 250 hectares of base farm in the state of Bahia.

Viridas is planning to plant 120 square miles of the dedicated energy crop jatropha in Brazil to produce EU-compliant sustainable crude jatropha oil.

Once the base farm is established, it will begin rolling out commercial operations for annual production of 60,000 tonnes of CJO which is contracted to be sold to its development partner INEOS Enterprises, and for which further funding will be required.

Chairman Stanley Wootliff said, 'The placing provides Viridas with the additional working capital to move to the next stage of its development programme and to take advantage of the growing EU demand for compliant sustainable biodiesel and biomass sourced from a dedicated energy crop.

'With a strong team and partnerships in place this funding will enable us to build a business with sustainability at its core while building value for our shareholders.'

The company has appointed Martin Brink as Managing Director and David Thompson as director with responsibility for finance. Brink has been managing director of Universal Properties Brazil Administraçao de Imoveis, involved in real estate projects including development of teak and eucalyptus.

Story provided by Business Financial Newswire