Carl Marks Advisory Group LLC has been retained to market the assets of the former NEDAK ethanol plant in Atkinson, Neb.

The 44 MMgy idled facility was purchased Jan. 22 at foreclosure auction by Choice Ethanol Holdings, the senior lenders for the facility. The purchase price was $22 million. “Lenders are traditionally not in the business of owning these types of assets long term and they think that value will be maximized in the hands of a new operator that would look to restart the facility,” said C. Scott Chabina, director of Carl Marks Advisory Group LLC.

The facility was temporarily idled in June, with the goal of restarting after crush levels returned to profitable levels. The plant was in warm idle at the time of the auction and Energetix LLC was hired by the new owners to implement an asset preservation program and put it into cold idle. “It’s ready to go for an expedited start up,” he said. “That should [allow] a new operator to resume production anywhere from 30 to 45 days.”

The facility has several positives, Chabina said, including a great location and good local end markets for distillers grains. Further, it’s in good condition, doesn’t have a history of unscheduled production stops, operates above nameplate capacity and has all its permits in place.