Renewable Fuels Firm Receives $50 Million in VC Funds

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Altra Inc., a Los Angeles developer of renewable fuels, received $50 million in funding last week from five private equity and venture capital firms.


The investment in Altra was led by Omninet Capital LLC, of Beverly Hills, and Sage Capital Partners, of West Los Angeles, and marks the first investment by both firms into the clean energy market. Other investors include Angeleno Group, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Khosla Ventures, the personal investment vehicle of Kleiner Perkins partner Vinod Khosla.


Altra said the capital will be used for construction of a biofuel plant in Ohio that is permitted to produce 70 million gallons of biofuel a year. The company has also signed a purchase agreement for a California plant that is expected to close by year-end.


The company expects to sell biofuel and ethanol to refiners, as well as wet and dry distiller’s grain to dairies and cattlemen.


Altra Chief Executive Larry Gross is the former chief executive of Knowledge Adventure and a vice chairman of Idealab.



Cargo Jet Funding


The C-17 cargo jet program in Long Beach got a boost last week when U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein helped convince the Senate’s supplemental appropriations panel to approve $227 million in emergency funding.


Earlier this year, $100 million was approved in a House supplemental appropriations bill.


“The C-17 is the cornerstone of our nation’s ability to move personnel and equipment around the world,” said the California Democrat in a statement. “I hope that this funding is the first step in ensuring that more C-17s will be built in the coming years.”


The Air Force has sought to phase out the Boeing Co. program, which employs 6,500 people at its Long Beach assembly line and an estimated 16,700 people county wide. There is no funding in the defense budget to keep the factory open beyond 2008 when the last plane is scheduled to be delivered.


Jack Kyser, the chief economist at the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., said that the project’s best chance for survival could be what he called the current “modus operandi” of Congress backing a series of emergency funding allocations, rather than approving longer-term funding.


“Reality is starting to set in up in Washington,” he said. “The C-17s are racking up more hours than they initially planned for over in Iraq and Afghanistan and there’s now a scramble to get more built. Getting funding like this may be the best and most effective way to keep the jets rolling out in Long Beach from here on out.”



Radio Deal OK’d


Citadel Broadcasting Corp.’s acquisition of rival ABC Radio from Walt Disney Co. is expected to close by the end of the year, now that federal antitrust authorities have completed their review of the deal.


U.S. Federal Trade Commission last week cleared the $2.7 billion transaction, which would create the industry’s third-largest radio group.


Citadel agreed to buy the bulk of Disney’s radio assets for about $2.7 billion in a deal structured to make the transaction tax-free for Disney shareholders.


The agreement includes ABC Radio’s 22 radio stations in nine major markets, such as L.A.’s KLOS-FM (95.5) and KABC-AM (790), and ABC Radio Networks, which distributes programming to more than 4,000 affiliates.


Following the completion of the merger, Disney shareholders will own approximately 52 percent of Citadel; Citadel shareholders will own the remaining 48 percent of the combined company.


After the transaction, Citadel will comprise 177 FM stations and 66 AM stations, in addition to the ABC Radio Networks.


The Burbank-based entertainment giant’s Radio Disney and ESPN brands and networks were not part of the deal.


Citadel is a Las Vegas-based radio broadcaster majority-owned by private equity firm Forstmann Little & Co. Disney decided to sell the stations after new chief executive Robert Iger reviewed all the media group’s assets.



Contract Awards


Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. announced two contract awards and a Canadian acquisition last week.


The Pasadena-based engineering company, which saw its share price rise $4 to close at $90.43 on April 6, acquired Techna-West Engineering, an Edmonton, Alberta-based firm that specializes in petroleum-based engineering services and promises to boost business in the region. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.


The firm also announced it received a contract to provide engineering and procurement services for BP plc’s Carson refinery. The project, estimated to be worth about $80 million, will allow the oil company to meet new air quality regulations regarding the removal of particulate emissions that will go into effect in 2008.


It also announced a project with the British government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to lessen the potential impact of port development. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.



Manufacturing Losses


Southern California is losing manufacturing plants despite a gain in total jobs across the state, according to a study released last week by Manufacturers’ News Inc.


The area lost more than 111 manufacturing plants over the past year for a total of 588 since 2000, the Evanston, Ill.-based company said in its 2006 Directory of California Manufacturers.


Despite the losses, manufacturing employment increased statewide last year by 8,838 jobs, a half-percent increase. That rise follows a 1 percent statewide loss in 2004 and a 12 percent statewide loss since 2000. The report found California continues to have the largest manufacturing base of any state, with 1.7 million jobs at 29,000 plants.


San Diego is the only city to post a gain last year, with the establishment of 30 new plants. At the same time, Los Angeles lost 101 plants, while Santa Fe Springs and Gardena lost five each.



Kate Berry, Deborah Crowe, Anne Riley-Katz, Allen P. Roberts, Jr.

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