Ethanol Producer Magazine is reporting that a private investment company owned by Bill Gates has made its shares of ethanol producer Pacific Ethanol up for sale:
Cascade Investment LLC, a private investment company owned by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, has registered its 10.5 million shares of Pacific Ethanol Inc. as being offered for public sale. The registration came in a Nov. 16 SEC filing that noted Cascade Investment’s 20.55 percent stake in Pacific Ethanol “may be offered for sale from time to time during the period the registration statement” remains effective.
Although this seems very crazy, it’s prudent for this company to stop losing its money. The real news, then, is weather the ethanol industry is going to a “sell” status instead of just a “hold”. It’s certainly not a “buy” anymore. Although some start-up companies might be worth looking at.
Or another, just as relevant question is weather or not Pacific Ethanol is worth the investment. They have made big promises over the last few years, but at the end of the day, they’re a small player. They don’t have a roadmap to get them to be a top 5 player. They’re not even a top 10 player anymore (see chart below).
So it’s no surprise that Pacific Ethanol might lose one of their primary investors. I mean, if you lose their shirt, they’re going to back out from the deal. That’s no surprise.
| Company | Capacity (gal/yr) | Planned Capacity (gal/yr) | Market Share |
