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Otter Tail Ag seeking new investors
Published 9:26am Tuesday, February 17, 2009Otter Tail Ag Enterprises, which owns and operates the ethanol plant northwest of Fergus Falls, is seeking new investors while at the same time encouraging current members to leverage their original investments. The company needs the additional funds to continue its operations during what it sees as a prolonged period of negative margins.
The company is holding the first of three regional investor meetings this evening at the Prairie Inn, Morris. Wednesday’s gathering will be held at the Holiday Inn, Alexandria, and Thursday’s meeting will take place at the AmericInn, Fergus Falls. Each gathering begins at 7 p.m.
“We’re all caught right now in the very difficult part of a down cycle,” said Anthony Hicks, CEO of Otter Tail Ag Enterprises. “However, we’ve seen this before in agriculture and in ethanol — and the industry should recover.”
Hicks said the entire ethanol industry is facing the difficult realities of volatile commodity prices, the economic slowdown, over-capacity and lower consumption.
He said that raising capital through its membership and/or additional investors will help everyone in the long run.
“We’ll be successful when the turnaround comes,” said Hicks. “We have many things to be proud of, including a quality plant built on time, on budget and a dedicated staff.”
During its original equity offering and subsequent financing two years ago, Otter Tail Ag Enterprises enjoyed, in the words of Hicks, “tremendous local and regional support from the community of Fergus Falls, Fergus Falls Township, Otter Tail County, the State of Minnesota and many surrounding communities.”
He said that people in this region understand the benefits that the Fergus Falls ethanol plant provides by adding value to corn and the local economy.
The equity offering is only available to current residents of Minnesota. Additional information about this offering can be found on the Otter Tail Ag Enterprises Web site at www.ottertailethanol.com.
