VeraSun gets antitrust OK to buy US BioEnergy

WASHINGTON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - VeraSun Energy Corp VSE.N received U.S. antitrust approval to acquire ethanol maker US BioEnergy Corp USBE.O, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.

Antitrust authorities completed their review of the deal without taking any action to block it, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said in a daily notice of transactions it has reviewed.

In November, VeraSun said it would acquire US BioEnergy in an all-stock deal in which it would issue 0.81 share of its common stock for every US BioEnergy share. VeraSun said the acquisition would boost its ethanol output to a total of 1.6 billion gallons by the end of 2008. (Reporting by Julie Vorman, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)