Los Angeles—Rentech Inc., which sold off the bulk of its fertilizer assets in 2016 as it continued to move into the wood fiber processing and wood pellet production businesses, said Feb. 21 that it is exploring strategic alternatives for the company as a whole, as well as its Wawa, Ont., facility, where it has suspended operations. In addition, it is reducing production levels at its Atikokan, Ont., plant, and reported continued sluggish pellet sales at New England Wood Pellet.
The company said that a customer plans to exercise an option to purchase two Rentech-owned mills in the U.S. Rentech still owns some fertilizer assets, namely units in CVR Partners LP, which bought its East Dubuque, Ill., nitrogen plant. The company told Green Markets that it still owns approximately 7.2 million units in CVR Partners, which has 113.3 million outstanding units. Rentech said it provided some 17 million units to a major lender in April 2016 to retire some obligations, and that the lender has been selling their units.