Renewable Energy Group Inc., the largest U.S. biodiesel producer, is seeking to raise as much as $100 million through an initial public offering to acquire a production facility and expand abroad.
The company plans to list its shares on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker REGI, Ames, Iowa-based Renewable Energy said Monday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It has not determined how many shares it will offer or their price.
Renewable Energy said it expects to use about $12 million of the proceeds from the offering to purchase a plant in Seneca, Illinois, that it currently leases. It owns all its other manufacturing facilities, in Iowa, Minnesota, Texas and Illinois, and three partially completed plants in Louisiana, Kansas and New Mexico.
The company also said it plans to expand into Europe, South America and Asia, and may use the funds for acquisitions or joint ventures in biofuels or renewable chemicals production and distribution.
Renewable Energy Group makes biodiesel from animal fat, used cooking oil, inedible corn oil and other vegetable oils. It sold almost 68 million gallons (258 million liters) in 2010, about 22 percent of total U.S. biodiesel production, according to the filing. The company’s facilities have a combined production capacity of 212 million gallons a year.
UBS Securities LLC and Piper Jaffray & Co. will be joint book-running managers for the offering, and Stifel, Nicolaus & Company Inc. and Canaccord Genuity Inc. will be co-managers, the company said in a statement.