Bill Gates Gets In On Ethanol
Bill has access to some of the best advisors in the world. He doesn’t make a move unless he knows something the rest of us don’t. Read the report of his investment.
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Cascade Investment LLC, a firm owned by Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates, agreed to buy an $84 million stake in Pacific Ethanol Inc. to help fund construction of fuel-additive plants on the U.S. West Coast.
Cascade will buy preferred stock convertible to 10.5 million common shares, Fresno, Claifornia base Pacific Thanol said today in a statement. Pacific Ethanol has 28.7 million common shares outstanding, according to a public filing.
The new shares would give Gates a 27 per cent stake.
Pacific Ethanol will become the largest West Coast ethanol producer with completion nex year of the first of five plants the company is developing.
Ethanol prices surged after U.S. energy legislation enacted in August 2005 mandated increased use of the grain-based fuel additive in gasoline. Pacific Ethanol plans to sell spent grain to dairy farms as cattle feed.
U.S. ethanol futures have jumped 83 percent in the past six months to $2.12 a gallon.
Pacific Ethanol’s first plant, which is under construction at a railroad grain terminal 10 miles from Fresno, is expected to produce at least 35 million gallons of fuel a year, Hartwig said.
Article appeared in Edmonton Journal on November 17, 2005 as reported from New York
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Anyone know how the small investor can get in on the action? See my post from earlier today about the sugar prices sky-rocketing as a result of more demand for ethanol. The middle class guy always seems to get the short end. Is solar and wind power the only energy that won’t be affected by the markets? Share your thougths!