South America's largest ethanol player, Cosan, to list on NYSE

At last, U.S. investors who want a piece of the ethanol game may have a pure play that's solidly profitable. South America's largest ethanol company, Cosan, filed Monday to raise $2 billion through the United States financial markets. According to Dow Jones, Cosan will use about $650 million in IPO proceeds for a new ethanol plant. $500 million to expand existing sugar and ethanol plants, and $325 million to build plants to generate electricity from left over sugar cane.

Cosan reported net income of $346.5 million in fiscal year 2007, and its size and strength have led to speculation that Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM) may make a run at buying the company. The plans for an IPO make that seem less likely however.

Cosan may have missed the speculative ethanol bull market of last year that sent companies like Pacific Ethanol (NASDAQ: PEIX) into the stratosphere, but the fact that Cosan actually makes money -- and lots of it -- gives it the making of a potentially very successful IPO.

Cosan's sugar-based ethanol is probably more efficient than the corn-based ethanol that is being produced in the United States, but huge government tariffs and farm subsidies will put the company at a disadvantage in the United States for now. But if gas prices continue to soar and pressue mounts in Washington to remove the tarrifs, Cosan would probably become a major player in the ethanol market here. If that happens, investors who scoop up Cosan at the IPO will be richly rewarded.