J.D. Heiskell Holdings, LLC doing business as J.D. Heiskell & Co. announced that on Friday, January 14, 2011 it acquired Hawkeye Gold LLC, an ethanol and ethanol co-products marketing business with offices in Ames, Iowa. Heiskell will acquire all employees and assets of Hawkeye Gold LLC and will continue to operate the business under its current name in Ames, Iowa.

“Hawkeye Gold has built strong brand identity and an outstanding team of people,” said Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Ryan Pellett. “We will support those strengths with our own stable trading platform and transportation expertise as well as additional business infrastructure. Our expectation is that both entities will benefit from this change and that it will create a number of opportunities for mutual growth.”

Hawkeye Gold will continue to market denatured fuel ethanol and distiller’s dried grains for a number of ethanol production facilities strategically located in Iowa and the upper Midwest. Heiskell will overlay its truck and rail transportation network that serves the entire western U.S., including many large animal agriculture production operations and animal feed manufacturing facilities. Heiskell will also leverage its export trading business and personnel as well as its proprietary accounting and inventory systems. PD

—From J.D. Heiskell news release