ContourGlobal acquires Fibrominn litter

ContourGlobal acquires Fibrominn litter-fired power
project
24 August 2006
ContourGlobal, a New York-based infrastructure investment company backed by
Reservoir Capital Group, has acquired a 55 MW turkey litter-fired power project in
Benson, Minnesota.
ContourGlobal closed Monday on the deal, in which it has acquired the lessor interest in
the project from Powerminn, a financial investor, according to an industry source. The
project will sell electricity to Northern States Power under a 21-year power purchase
agreement. Financial terms of the sale could not be determined. Officials at
ContourGlobal and Powerminn declined comment or did not return calls.
Powerminn was already in discussions with ContourGlobal prior to Bear Stearns
launching an auction for the project last month, the industry source says. The project is
70% complete and is expected to enter commercial operation next year. It was financed
via a sale-leaseback with Powerminn, which is leasing the facility under a long-dated
contract to Fibrominn LLC.
Six institutional investors, including Prudential Capital Group, John Hancock Financial
Services, and Metropolitan Life, provided $202 million in non-recourse debt to partfinance the project. The project-level debt will remain in place, according to the industry
source.
ContourGlobal was launched with backing from Reservoir last fall by Joe Brandt, former
executive v.p. and coo of integrated utilities at AES Corp., and Lee Muller, a former
Goldman Sachs investment banker.