SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, US — Liberty Basin, LLC has closed on the purchase of Pacific Ethanol’s Magic Valley plant in Burley, Idaho, US, for $10 million in cash.

It includes 134 acres, rail loop and grain handling assets at the facility.

“The sale of real estate and grain handling assets at our Magic Valley facility marks further progress in our strategic realignment around higher, more stable margins in specialty alcohols and essential ingredients,” said Mike Kandris, chief executive officer of Pacific Ethanol. “With this sale we further strengthened our balance sheet by using all net sale proceeds to pay down term debt. We will continue to own the production facility and plan to upgrade the product offerings prior to restarting production.”

Pacific Ethanol is retaining the ethanol plant and terminal on the remaining 25 acres and has entered into agreements with Liberty Basin, LLC for ongoing coordination of operations and delivery of grain to the ethanol plant.

The Magic Valley dry mill and distillery began operation in 2008 and uses a batch fermentation process designed by Delta-T. All Magic Valley’s products are sold locally by truck serving Idaho and Utah markets for high-protein feed, corn oil and low carbon renewable fuel.