Pacific Ethanol (NASDAQ: PEIX) has announced the completion of a $40 million equity investment by Lyles United, LLC. The investment included 2,051,282 shares of class B stock convertible to 6,153,846 shares of common stock and a warrant to purchase another 3,076,923 shares of common stock at $7.00 per share. The original Securities Purchase Agreement was dated March 18, 2008.

Normally we do not cover such small financings, nor do we cover financing being completed from part of a prior pact. Ethanol stocks in the U.S. have been in trouble, and Pacific Ethanol is no exception as shares have traded north of $17.00 over the last year.

If any company needed the funding in the ethanol sector, it was Pacific Ethanol. Gone are the days that Bill Gates owned a large portion of the company, and gone are the days that everyone believes that the current method of domestic ethanol will act to help the energy issues today if subsidies didn't exist.