OMAHA, NEB. and ST. LOUIS — White River Soy Processing, LLC has acquired Benson Hill, Inc.’s Creston, Iowa-based soy processing plant. for $72 million. The facility employs 55 and is equipped to produce soy meal and oil, as well as food grade soy white flake, flour and grits, Benson Hill said.
The Creston plant is the second facility White River has acquired from Benson Hill in the past four months. At the end of October 2023, White River purchased the Benson Hill soybean processing plant in Seymour, Ind., for approximately $36 million.
“Today’s acquisition demonstrates White River’s commitment to our company’s mission to provide better nutritional results to our customers, as well as meet the growing demand for high-quality soy protein products,” said Gordon Glade, co-founder of White River. “The purchase of the Creston facility allows us to expand on what we started with the Seymour, Indiana facility, while also expanding our product offerings in the food grade market.”
Deanie Elsner, chief executive officer of Benson Hill, said the divestiture supports the company’s strategic plan to reshape its organization and move to an asset-light business model with an expanded focus on animal feed markets .
“More importantly, divesting our owned and operated soy processing assets strengthens our balance sheet with lower capital and operating expenses, while allowing us to carefully allocate resources to our core competencies as a technology-enabled company, seed innovation,” Elsner said. “We know WRSP’s leadership well and are confident they will operate a facility with the highest industry standards and a customer-centric approach. We sincerely appreciate the hard work of Creston employees as they increase throughput at the facility to unprecedented levels. We thank them for their contributions to Benson Hill.
In addition to leaving the soybean processing plant, Benson Hill announced the appointment of Susan Keefe as chief financial officer, effective March 29. She will succeed Dean Freeman, who is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities .
Keefe was most recently CFO of GreenLight Biosciences, Inc. from May 2019 to September 2023. Prior to this, he was a financial consultant at Danforth Advisors. He also worked in financial roles at Aushon BioSystems, SeraCare Life Sciences, Procter & Gamble, Lante Corp. and PwC.
“Susan brings a depth of financial acumen to Benson Hill that will be invaluable in reshaping the organization during our transition to an asset-light partnership model,” said Elsner. “Having an executive with Susan’s diverse experience will prove invaluable as we seek to improve our financial profile and unlock the full value of our distinct and advantageous genetics. She is uniquely qualified for the next stage of our journey, and I look forward to working with him to deliver value to Benson Hill shareholders.”
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