Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Published: 4/9/2018 5:54:41 PM
New England Wood Pellet LLC of Jaffrey has been acquired by a Colorado-based wood pellet home-heating company.
Mitch Lehn, human resources director for Lignetics, Inc., said Thursday that his company has purchased all of New England Wood Pellet’s assets, which includes the flagship location in Jaffrey and four manufacturing plants throughout the North East part of the country.
“This acquisition allows us to fill a geographic void,” said Lehn. “This is a significant capacity increase for us... it allows us to be more competitive.”
Lignetics is the largest residential wood pellet manufacturing company in the United States and now has a production capacity of about one million tons of wood pellets per year. Lignetics is the only pellet manufacturer that has manufacturing plants in the Eastern, Central, and Western parts of the country.
The sale of New England Wood Pellets was closed on Feb. 14, with Lignetics purchasing the company from parent company Rentech Inc.
“Completing this acquisition is a significant step in continuing to execute our strategy to expand our geographic footprint in the U.S. and remain the market leader in the residential wood pellet industry,” said Brett Jordan, CEO of Lignetics, in a press release. “New England Wood Pellet has long been the leader in the New England market with strategically located manufacturing plants and strong customer relationships managed by a very talented team, whose goal is to continue to provide a superior product and excellent customer service.”
A transition in ownership won’t change much at the local level, according to Lehn. Mark Wilson, New England Wood Pellet’s CEO, has agreed to provide Lignetics with consulting services through the transition.
“We have admired the New England Wood Pellet business that Mark has built with his team over the last several years and we consider them as a benchmark for the industry in many ways. We are excited to have this tremendously talented team join the Lignetics family of companies and we believe the combination will be truly transformational for the business,” said Jordan.
Lignetics was founded in 1983 and primarily deals in manufacturing wood pellets for home heating. Lehn said the company also makes animal bedding pellets and shavings, barbecue pellets, and compressed wood bricks and logs.
New England Wood Pellet was founded in Acton, Mass., in 1992 and was moved to Jaffrey in 1999.
Nicholas Handy can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 235 or nhandy@ledgertranscript.com. He is also on Twitter @nhandyMLT.