Ethanol company shares up on consolidation talk

Privately held Poet LLC, the nation's top ethanol producer, said this week that it was talking with other companies about possible buyouts. The Sioux Falls, S.D., firm did not identify the companies it is looking at.

And VeraSun Energy Corp., the nation's No. 2 producer, said it had received an unsolicited takeover bid one month after seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

VeraSun shares gained a penny to 8 cents in over-the-counter trading.

Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings Inc. gained 16 cents, or 23.2 percent, to 85 cents in afternoon trading. Verenium Corp. was up 6 cents, or 10.5 percent, to 69 cents, and Pacific Ethanol Inc. rose 5 cents, or 8.6 percent, to 63 cents. BioFuel Energy Corp. gained a penny to 40 cents.

Meanwhile, shares of The Andersons Inc. fell 21 percent Wednesday after the ethanol, railroad and fertilizer company lowered its 2008 earnings estimate. Piper Jaffray analyst Michael E. Cox cut his rating on The Andersons to "Neutral" from "Buy," but the company's revision was based on fertilizer price volatility not its ethanol operations.

Andersons shares fell $3.34 to $12.54.