Cate Street seeks to close financing gap for mill
Cate Street Capital, the investment firm that plans to build a $140 million wood pellet mill in Millinocket, will seek to plug a $9 million financing gap for the project after receiving a smaller-than-anticipated bond from the Finance Authority of Maine.
The New Hampshire firm also announced its intentions to construct a third pellet mill at an undisclosed Maine site. Its plans for a second plant in Eastport had already been disclosed.
The Bangor Daily News reported that Cate Street is working with investors on how to fill the gap, despite its disappointment over FAME’s decision to reduce a bond from $25 million to $16 million.
“While this setback is certainly unfortunate, our team’s passion and determination [are] inspiring and I have full confidence that we will prevail,” Dammon Frecker, Cate Street’s project manager, said in a statement this week. “We are working around the clock to restructure our financing plan and finalize a new path forward.”
Frecker’s announcement about a third pellet mill being considered said the three mills would produce 300,000 tons of pellets annually, and create up to “1,000 direct and indirect jobs.”
Cate Street currently owes vendors and the Internal Revenue Service at least $6.8 million on behalf of Great Northern Paper Co., one of its subsidiaries that owns a temporarily closed paper mill in East Millinocket. The paper mill laid off 212 workers in February after ceasing production the previous month due to the subsidiary’s tax and financial problems.
The firm also owes East Millinocket and Millinocket $3 million in property taxes, which it must pay as a condition of receiving the FAME bond. Frecker said when that happens, it will coincide with the closing of the company’s private investment for the pellet mill.
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments