VANCOUVER, Jan. 23, 2013 /CNW/ - Lignol Energy Corporation (TSXV: LEC)
("LEC" or "the Company"), a leading technology development company in
the advanced biofuels and renewable chemicals sector, today announced
that it is currently evaluating various opportunities to increase the
value of its investment in Australian Renewable Fuels Ltd. (ASX: ARW)
("ARW") and identify areas for collaboration between the two
organizations. As a part of its evaluation process, which is based on
publicly available information, LEC has applied for and been granted
approval by the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board ("FIRB") to
increase its ownership in ARW beyond the threshold for foreign
ownership of 15 percent.
FIRB is responsible for examining proposals by foreign persons to invest
in Australia and makes recommendations to the Treasurer on those
subject to the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 and Australia's foreign investment policy. As a general rule, ownership
of certain Australian publicly listed companies by a foreign
corporation is restricted to less than 15 percent in the absence of
FIRB approval.
Notwithstanding that LEC has received FIRB approval, the Company has not
yet decided to take any action in relation to ARW (including increasing
its stake).
"Our investment in ARW is an important component of our strategy of
investing in complementary businesses in the renewable fuels industry",
said Ross MacLachlan, President and CEO. "Being able to add value to
such investments is an important component of that strategy and so our
ongoing evaluation may lead either to an increase in the size of the
investment, further complementary investments or business transactions
or, under certain conditions, liquidating our investment. Receipt of
FIRB approval gets us to another key stage of our evaluation and
discussion process", he added.
On November 9, 2012, the Company announced that it had completed the
acquisition of an additional 88,000,000 ordinary shares of ARW,
increasing its ownership in ARW from 11.2% to 14.9% of the issued and
outstanding ordinary shares of ARW. ARW has subsequently announced that
it plans to enter into a business transaction to raise AUD $14 million
in cash, which if successful will result in the dilution of LEC's
equity stake in ARW to approximately 10%.
About Lignol Energy Corporation ("LEC")
LEC (TSXV: LEC) owns 100% of the issued and voting shares of Lignol
Innovations Ltd. ("LIL") and currently owns a 14.9% stake in Australian
Renewable Fuels Ltd (ASX: ARW). LEC also intends to invest in, or
otherwise obtain, equity interests in energy related projects which
have synergies with its biorefining technology.
LIL is a leading technology company in the advanced biofuels and
renewable chemicals sector undertaking the development of biorefining
technologies for the production of advanced biofuels, including
fuel-grade ethanol, and other renewable chemicals from nonfood
cellulosic biomass feedstocks. LIL's modified solvent based
pretreatment technology facilitates the rapid, high-yield conversion of
cellulose to ethanol and the production of value-added biochemical
co-products, including high purity HP-LTM lignins. HP-LTM lignin represents a new class of high purity lignin extractives (and
their subsequent derivatives) which can be engineered to meet the
chemical properties and functional requirements of a range of
industrial applications that until now has not been possible with
traditional lignin byproducts generated from other processes. LIL is
executing on its development plan through strategic partnerships to
further develop and integrate its core technologies on a commercial
scale. For more information please visit Lignol's website at www.lignol.ca.
ARW is the largest biodiesel producer in Australia owning three plants
with a total nameplate capacity of 150 million litres per annum. ARW's
three plants were built at an aggregate cost of approximately A$150
million. ARW has made significant changes in recent years to become a
cost effective producer of high quality biodiesel to address growing
biofuel demand in the Australian market. More information on ARW can be
found at their website; www.arfuels.com.au
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as
that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange)
accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Caution concerning forward-looking statements:
Certain statements contained in this document may constitute
forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities
laws. Such forward-looking statements or information include, without
limitation, statements or information about FIRB approval and the
Company's plans with respect to its investment in ARW, the proposed
transaction recently announced by ARW and the potential resulting
change to LEC's equity interest in ARW, the Company's ability to
continue as a going concern and to raise additional financing to fund
the operations of LEC and LIL, the development status of LIL's fully
integrated pilot scale biorefinery in Burnaby, British Columbia, the
planning and development of a commercial plant, LIL's ability to
complete project deliverables which are funded in part by government
agencies, obtaining strategic partnership investments and government
funding for initial commercial projects. Often, but not always, forward
looking statements or information can be identified by the use of words
such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected",
"budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends",
"anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes" or variations of
such words and phrases or words and phrases that state or indicate that
certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or
"will" be taken, occur or be achieved.
Such statements or information reflect LEC's current views with respect
to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and
assumptions including, without limitation, our ability to establish the
validity of LIL's technology at the fully integrated biorefinery pilot
plant scale, LIL's ability to satisfy the conditions of existing
government grants and to obtain new additional grants, our ability to
continue to finance our operations and to finance and complete the
development of a commercial project, LIL's ability to work with
Novozymes to produce cellulosic ethanol at production costs competitive
with gasoline and corn ethanol, LIL's ability to develop products and
to obtain off-take agreements, our ability to obtain requisite
regulatory approvals and our ability to enter into agreements with
strategic partners on terms acceptable to us, the inability to
influence the strategy, operations and financial performance of ARW,
the reliance on publicly available information of ARW in the Company's
evaluation of its acquisition of shares in ARW, the potential inability
to divest the ARW ordinary shares due to modest trading volumes, the
cost of future ARW capital investment, the fluctuation of biodiesel and
feedstock prices on ARW, the effect on ARW of changes in government
policy relating to the environment, and incentives for renewable fuels.
Many factors could cause LEC's actual results, performance or
achievements to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements or information, including among other
things, the technological challenges that remain to be surpassed in
obtaining the necessary operating data from Lignol's fully integrated
biorefinery pilot plant that is required prior to completing the next
scale-up of the technology, financial market conditions which will
impact our ability to finance our operations and to finance the
construction and operation of a commercial plant, the price of gasoline
and demand for ethanol, the market pricing and demand for renewable
chemicals, risks relating to the protection of Lignol's core technology
from infringement and those risk factors which are discussed elsewhere
in documents that LEC files from time to time with securities
regulatory authorities. Should one or more of these risks or
uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the
forward-looking statements or information prove incorrect, actual
results may vary materially from those described herein as intended
planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Except as
required by law, the Company expressly disclaims any intention or
obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements and
information whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise. All written and oral forward-looking statements and
information attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are
expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary
statements.
SOURCE: Lignol Energy Corporation
