California-based Viaspace Inc. recently announced it has completed the acquisition of Inter-Pacific Arts Corp., a company that imports and markets consumer products in the United States, adding approximately $5 million in revenue. Founded in 1998, Viaspace provides technology solutions to global markets including fuel cell energy supply, fuel cell testing, homeland security, commercial security, national defense, industrial process control, microelectronics and sensor fusion.
Inter-Pacific has the worldwide license to grow and sell China Giant King Grass, an ultra-fast-growing hybrid grass with potential for use as a biofuel feedstock and an animal feed. “The grass can grow nearly four meters (approximately 13 feet) in sixty days,” said Skip Zeiler, executive director of Viaspace. “It is a product which is multifunctional—as it can be used as part of a feedstock for dairy cattle, or to generate cellulosic ethanol—we think that is why it has such applicability—and we are not using a food source, which is important in a lot of areas.”
With the acquisition, Viaspace will gain a license for commercial farming and sale of China Giant King Grass that will be used as feedstock for biofuels, including cellulosic ethanol, methanol, biocrude and green gasoline.
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Grass has already been planted in the Guangzhou region in China, the size of which he compares to the state of California, Zeller said. “Since we just got the acquisition going, we decided to get moving and get started in a place with a large, robust population.”
Viaspace plans to commercially farm the grass and sell to individual farmers or companies, eventually expanding its rights outside of China. Viaspace intends to accelerate development of the biofuel and feed business, which will become a major revenue driver for the Inter-Pacific subsidiary.
Carl Kukkonen, chief executive officer of Viaspace, said the acquisition was made in order to allow Viaspace to enter the biofuels industry as a major expansion of its focus in the $54 billion clean energy market sector. “Viaspace intends to rapidly accelerate development of the hybrid grass business, which can quickly become the major revenue driver above and beyond the current $5 million in revenue of the commercial operations of the Inter-Pacific subsidiary,” Kukkonen said.
He expects Viaspace to be profitable by the end of 2009.
