Pacific Ethanol, Inc.(Nasdaq: PEIX)announced that it has signed a definitive agreement with Cascade Investment, L.L.C., the personal investment company of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, to sell 5,250,000 shares of Series A Cumulative Redeemable Convertible Preferred Stock, which will result in gross proceeds of $84 million. Pacific Ethanol has announced plans to build five ethanol plants in the Western United States with an expected combined installed annual ethanol capacity of at least 200 million gallons.