Large-Scale Ethanol Production Facility In CA
Fresno, CA - Pacific Ethanol, Inc. announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Phoenix Bio-Industries, LLC (PBI). PBI has recently completed construction of an approximate 25 million gallon per year ethanol production facility located in Goshen, California. The facility is currently undergoing initial start-up testing and, once fully operational, the facility is expected to be the first large-scale ethanol production facility located in California. The closing of the acquisition is expected to occur in early October and is subject to certain conditions including, among others, Pacific Ethanol's ability to successfully obtain adequate financing to complete the acquisition, completion of due diligence by Pacific Ethanol and Pacific Ethanol's ability to purchase all issued and outstanding membership interests of PBI.
Prior to execution of the agreement to acquire PBI, Pacific Ethanol and PBI entered into a marketing agreement under which Kinergy Marketing, LLC, a subsidiary of Pacific Ethanol, would market all of the ethanol produced by PBI at its Goshen facility. In addition, Western Milling, one of the largest marketers of grain and feed in California, earlier this year entered into a marketing agreement with Pacific Ethanol under which it will market all of Pacific Ethanol's distillers wet grains produced at Pacific Ethanol's planned ethanol production facility located in Madera County, California and at the Goshen production facility.
Bill Jones, Pacific Ethanol's Chairman, stated, "We are very excited about entering into an agreement to purchase PBI. We believe that this acquisition, together with our Madera County ethanol production facility that is currently under construction, is consistent with our primary goal of becoming a leader in the production, marketing and sale of ethanol and other renewable fuels in the Western United States. PBI has built a great plant that will fit nicely into our growing business to meet consumer demand for clean-burning renewable fuel. With this acquisition, we expect to be a year ahead of schedule on executing our business plan to commence producing ethanol."
"We believe that California needs more ethanol plants. We believe that our state is chronically short of fuel, as demonstrated by high gasoline and other fuel prices, and that Pacific Ethanol can have a significant positive impact by producing more renewable fuels here in California," added Jones.
Rick Eastman, PBI founder, stated, "It has been a three-decade long career in the renewable fuels industry that has enabled us to build the first large-scale ethanol production plant located in California. We believe that this facility will be one of the most energy-efficient plants in the nation using technologies that weren't available fifteen years ago. We are excited to begin providing California consumers with a domestically-produced and locally-refined renewable fuel that significantly reduces carbon monoxide (CO) emissions when added to gasoline. Joining the Pacific Ethanol group of companies is compelling as it makes available resources that a single ethanol production plant would not have access to otherwise."
SOURCE: Pacific Ethanol, Inc.