Recent Developments and Current Proposed Manchester, Iowa, Ethanol Plant.
Purchase of Land. In March 2007, our
subsidiary, ALL Energy Company, through its subsidiary, ALL Energy Manchester,
LLC, acquired approximately 150 acres of real property located near
Manchester, Iowa. It is our intention to construct a 100 million gallon
(per year) ethanol production facility on this land. We refer to this
proposed ethanol production facility as “the Manchester facility”.
Annexation. The 150 acres on which we
propose to build the Manchester facility, a 100 million gallon per year
ethanol production facility, was recently annexed by the City of Manchester,
Iowa. Because of this annexation, it is expected that we would be able
to secure important tax credits from local and Iowa state agencies.
Economic Incentives. We have received
in excess of $17 million in infrastructure improvements, tax credits
and property tax abatements from the City of Manchester, Iowa, and the
State of Iowa in support of the Manchester facility. The City has agreed
to provide us with sewer service to the Manchester facility site, roadway
improvements in and around the Manchester facility site and a 10-year
property tax abatement, a total incentive package in excess of $6.6
million. In addition, the Iowa Department of Economic Development has
awarded us a sales and use tax credit in an amount in excess of $10.4
million for High Quality Job Creation.
Air Quality Construction Permit. In
May 2007, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources issued the final
Air Quality Construction Permit relating to the Manchester facility.
We have engaged Yaggy-Colby to consult on air-related environmental
matters relating to the Manchester facility.
Ground Water Quality Permit Application.
We have engaged Natural Resources Group (NRG) to consult on water-related
environmental matters relating to the Manchester facility. With NRG,
we have made significant progress towards compliance with applicable
water-related regulations, having filed our initial water-quality-related
permit application.
Project Feasibility Study. We commissioned
BBI to perform a project feasibility study relating to the Manchester
facility, which included an analysis of the availability of corn and
energy, as well as the surrounding transportation infrastructure. BBI’s
report indicates that there are ample corn supplies in close proximity
to the Manchester facility to satisfy our feedstock needs, that there
are adequate supplies of energy available at reasonable cost with which
to operate the Manchester facility and that the surrounding transportation
infrastructure is capable of handling the anticipated truck and rail
traffic associated with the Manchester facility. We obtained this feasibility
study, inasmuch as funding sources familiar to our management require
such a study as a condition to financing.
Project Engineering Firm. We have engaged
the project engineering firm, to provide project engineering services
with respect to the Manchester facility. With the project-engineering
firm, we have made a significant progress towards completing the necessary
preliminary engineering work relating to the Manchester facility. Once
we complete this preliminary engineering work, we will be in a position
to put the construction of the Manchester facility up for bid.
Proposed Purchases of Existing Ethanol Production
Facilities. In July 2007, our company and Ace Ethanol, LLC,
the operator of an ethanol production facility in Stanley, Wisconsin,
with a design capacity of 30 million gallons per year (currently producing
approximately 46 million gallons annually), signed a letter of intent
with respect to the proposed purchase by us of 100% of Ace Ethanol.
We are currently negotiating the definitive acquisition agreement and,
thereafter, the final approval of the Ace Ethanol members.
We have secured letters of intent for over $119 million
in funding needed to acquire Ace Ethanol. We may not obtain final funding
agreements based on these letters of intent.
In addition, we are currently negotiating the acquisition
of one or more additional existing ethanol production facilities. We
cannot make assurances that we will be successful in these efforts.
It is currently anticipated that the capital required
to complete the purchase of any existing ethanol production facility
will be obtained in the form of debt financing or a combination of debt
financing and equity. However, we have not obtained a financing commitment
and there is no assurance that we will ever obtain the financing needed
to complete any proposed acquisition.