OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Green Plains Renewable Energy Inc. said Thursday that the Irish investment firm that has been its biggest shareholder is reducing its stake in the ethanol and corn oil producer.
The Omaha-based company said that the shareholder, NTR PLC, plans to sell 3 million Green Plains shares in a public offering that has been priced at $10.41 per share. In addition, Green Plains said it will buy back another 3.7 million of its shares from NTR at the same price paid by the public offering's underwriter.
The offering price was an 8 percent discount to Green Plain's closing price of $11.35 on Wednesday. In afternoon trading Thursday, Green Plains shares fell 58 cents, or 5.1 percent, to $10.77 per share.
Its shares have risen 23 percent since falling to a 52-week low of $8.34 in early October. They are still 17 percent below their high of $13 set almost a year ago.
After the offering and the buyback are completed, NTR will control about 1 million shares of Green Plains Renewable's stock, cutting its ownership stake to 3.5 percent from its current level of roughly 23 percent.
Green Plains CEO Todd Becker said in an interview that his company had become less "strategic" for NTR as that investment firm reviewed its assets. Becker said NTR's moves would reduce Green Plains' reliance on the institutional investor.
"As we have kind of grown up a company, it was a way to put shares in more peoples' hands, which gives us a more diverse shareholder base," Becker said.
NTR did not return an email seeking comment.
Green Plains Renewable operates nine ethanol plants in the Midwest, selling and distributing about 1 billion gallons of fuel a year.
The company said the public offering of 3 million shares is expected to close on March 6. Green Plains Renewable won't get any of the proceeds from the offering. Instead, the money will go to NTR.
Jefferies & Company Inc. is the sole bookrunner for the public offering. The underwriter was granted a 30-day option to sell another 450,000 shares at the same price.
Earlier this month, Green Plains Renewable said that its profit fell last year as rising costs offset gains from higher revenue. Corn prices hit historically high levels last year, which boosts the price that ethanol makers must pay for their key input.
The company reported its 2011 net income fell to $38.4 million from $48 million in 2010. Annual revenue rose to $3.6 billion from $2.1 billion in 2010. But costs also rose sharply, jumping 43 percent from a year earlier.