The operation includes approximately 2,600 acres of land with 800 acres allocated to the feedlot operation. The feedlot can support 70,000 head of cattle, according to Green Plains. Grain storage capacity, including the Cimarron Grain facilities, is approximately 3.8 million bushels of corn.
"Supreme Cattle Feeders is one of the premier cattle feed yards in the US and this operation is an ideal adjacent business for Green Plains," said Todd Becker, president and CEO of Green Plains. "The custom cattle-feeding business gives us the ability to further process our distillers grains and corn oil, and extend our corn origination network. We also believe that this transaction will be accretive to 2014 earnings.
"Supreme Cattle Feeders will remain a custom cattle-feeding business and we are excited to add this asset to our portfolio of value-added processing facilities. Our focus is to ensure that current customers continue to be served at the highest level as both companies are committed to a successful transition. Finally, we expect to retain all of the current employees at the facilities," Becker added.
Green Plains said Supreme Cattle Feeders will operate under the same name, and the current management team will continue to direct operations at the company with transition support from Agri Beef. Agri Beef, which owned Supreme Cattle Feeders for 19 years, will continue as a cattle-feeding customer.
"The key to our decision to sell Supreme Cattle Feeders was Green Plains' financial strength, commitment to operational excellence and risk management capabilities," said Robert Rebholtz Jr., president, CEO of Agri Beef. "We are thrilled by the great opportunities this combination will provide Supreme's long-time customers and employees. We look forward to continuing our own cattle-feeding relationship as a Green Plains customer for years to come."
Green Plains has operations related to ethanol production, corn oil production, grain handling and storage, in addition to commodity marketing and distribution services. The company processes more than 10 million tons of corn annually, producing over 1 billion gallons of ethanol, 3 million tons of livestock feed and 250 million lbs. of industrial grade corn oil at full capacity. Green Plains also is a partner in a joint venture to commercialize advanced technologies for growing and harvesting algal biomass.
