CHS Inc. said Thursday that it will spend $350 million to acquire full ownership of an oil refinery in McPherson, Kan., the farmer-owned cooperative's second significant acquisition in less than two weeks.
CHS, based in Inver Grove Heights, already owns 74 percent of the refinery. It will acquire the rest from two other owners, Growmark Inc., of Bloomington, Ill., and MFA Oil Co. of Columbia, Mo.
The cooperative, which sells fuel under the Cenex brand, made more money than ever in 2011, helped by dramatically higher profits from refining crude oil. Its $25.3 billion in revenue placed it just behind 3M Co. among Minnesota's biggest companies.
Last week it added to its food business with a $133 million acquisition of an Israeli soy protein maker.
The cooperative, which has a wholly owned oil refinery in Montana, said the remaining stake in the Kansas refinery will be acquired in stages through Sept. 1, 2015.
Jay Debertin, CHS executive vice president and chief operating officer for energy and foods, said in a statement that the acquisition is part of a strategy to make the co-op "the leading energy supplier to rural America."
CHS said the Kansas refining operation, the National Cooperative Refinery Association, was created in 1943 with the purchase of the former Globe Refinery by five farmer-owned cooperatives. It produces 85,000 barrels per day and has offsite storage at Conway, Kan., 1,500 miles of pipeline and a terminal in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
CHS also owns a 55,000-barrels-per-day refinery at Laurel, Mont., along with crude and products pipelines and refined fuels terminals.
