Pacific Ethanol invests $6.0M, brings ownership in plants to 96%

In California, Pacific Ethanol, announced that it has purchased an additional 5% ownership interest in PE Op Co., the owner of the Pacific Ethanol plants, for a total cash purchase price of $6,000,000. The acquisition increased the company’s ownership interest in the Pacific Ethanol plants to 96%. The company is he leading producer and marketer of low-carbon renewable fuels, by volume, in the Western United States. Pacific Ethanol also sells co-products, including wet distillers grain, a nutritional animal feed.

The company operates and manages four ethanol production facilities, with a combined annual production capacity of 200 million gallons, located in Boardman, Oregon, Burley, Idaho, Stockton, California, and Madera, California. Neil Koehler, the company’s president and CEO, said: “Increasing our ownership delivers an immediate earnings benefit to our shareholders at current production margins. With this purchase, our 96% equity ownership is at a weighted-average cost of thirty cents per gallon of annual operating capacity, which is a significant discount to both current market values and replacement costs. We are now net debt free at the plants, with cash balances exceeding third-party debt.”