Ostara To Purchase Oakley’s St. Louis Granulation Facility
Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies Inc., a fertilizer company based in Vancouver, Canada, announced November 3 that it has agreed to buy a granulation facility and terminal on the Mississippi River in St. Louis from Bruce Oakley Inc. The two companies signed a letter of intent for the purchase of the assets.
As its name suggests, Ostara describes itself as a “nutrient recovery” and water-management company. It derives its fertilizers from nutrients it recovers from industrial, agriculture and municipal water streams using proprietary technology it calls Pearl, then turns the nutrients into granular fertilizers. The company says it is “closing the loop on phosphorus for future generations.”
Ostara said the acquisition and related transactions are “intended to further support production scale-up of Ostara’s Crystal Green brand of sustainable phosphorus-based, continuous-release fertilizer products in response to consistent year-over-year sales growth, existing early-season orders and increasing customer demand.”
Pursuant to the letter of intent, Oakley will provide long-term, full-service terminal support for Ostara, including bulk storage, inbound and outbound logistics services via truck, rail and barge and raw materials supply. The acquisition is expected to close in December.
Engineering and design work to “significantly” increase current facility production capacity is currently underway, and Ostara said it anticipates first phase production to begin within 12 months of the closing of the acquisition. When the facility reaches full production, Ostara expects that output will increase its current aggregate production capacity tenfold. Ostara said it will also continue to prioritize targeted capital investments in its existing Florida production facility, directed at optimizing and increasing capacity to better serve Ostara customers in the Southeastern United States and throughout North America.
“The purchase of Oakley’s St. Louis granulation facility will enable Ostara to build on the successes achieved at our Florida facility, which continues to be overwhelmed by the demand for our Crystal Green fertilizers, and we are extremely pleased to be executing on the final steps to secure these strategically located assets,” said Dan Parmar, president and CEO of Ostara. “Oakley’s breadth of experience, market-leading reputation and world-class infrastructure makes them an ideal long-term partner for Ostara during this accelerated phase of our company’s growth.”
“Oakley is honored to partner with Ostara, and we look forward to supporting Ostara’s innovative line of Crystal Green products,” Bruce Oakley Vice President Justin Oakley said. “This transaction and the resulting ongoing long-term relationship will allow both companies to use their core competencies in realizing common goals. We have enjoyed working with the Ostara team to date and look forward to a joint success.”
