Funding GFA
Opportunity Short term, fully-protected principal with a controlled transfer of funds that earns a reasonable return. Good Faith Account Features $150MM Account serves as Good Faith to the SynSel Biorefinery $600MM Plant Lender: Good Faith Account GFA SynSel has passed Plant Lender s Due Diligence to pursue 100 plants in the USA: $60B in construction Funding of the GFA releases construction loan disbursements to build the biorefinery GFA security is insulated from plant construction & performance A funded GFA legitimizes SynSel s historic roll-out with important socio-eco stakeholders on a site-by-site basis GFA transaction unlocks Impact Investing benefits The Good Faith Account (GFA) is required by the source of the $600MM construction loan (Plant Lender) as a means of validating that the SynSel Biorefinery is investment grade. There is no remedial economic purpose to the GFA. It does not serve as collateral and can only be accessed by the GFA owner. SynSel Biorefineries: IMPACT INVESTING Energy Security: local wood feedstock produces domestic renewable drop-in biofuel, thereby lowering dependence on foreign oil Climate Change: biofuel has dramatically reduced carbon footprint compared to petroleum fuel equivalent; independent study concludes a +90% reduction Job Creation: approx. 100 trained & high-pay career jobs per plant in addition to >1,000 construction and manufacturing jobs and 50 supporting community jobs Community Resiliency: complements forest-related industries and paves the way for self-sustaining communities: risk of fire reduced by culling hazardous tinder Master Planning includes an Enviro- Industrial Park: more jobs, enhanced enviro-socio-eco profile plus greater resiliency: brings stability and contrast from boom-bust cycle typical of mining, commodity and forest-related industries
GFA Purpose & Benefit: There are a number of benefits to SynSel s Good Faith Account (GFA) financing model to fund its biorefineries; however, these benefits are not economically driven per se for each project. In other words, the GFA does not lower debt service, serve as security or collateral to the lender, or encumber the GFA investor. Instead, the GFA s major benefits include: Overcoming Un-Financeable Project Barriers for Innovative Technology: Debt lending for technology projects is rarely achievable unless the technology has a time-proven commercial track record. Equity investment thus becomes the norm for innovative technology, however, these equity investors typically leverage their position to squeeze ownership and control from the project developers. Equity investment also often times requires long-term off-take agreements, which has an unintended consequence the developer tends to lose the off-take incentives as a result of the long-term off-take agreements resulting in dramatic impacts on cash flow and debt service capabilities. In contrast, the GFA funding model gives SynSel access to 100% debt financing at better-than-market terms while maintaining decision-making control to maximize both incentives and profits. Deal Vetting Process Efficiency: The GFA acts as a qualifier for an otherwise insatiable market of borrowers looking for better-than-market terms. The extensive due diligence to fund the GFA process serves as an input to streamline the construction project due diligence, which begins in almost all instances, once the GFA is funded. Thus, the GFA serves as a throttle to allow our construction lender to review and fund only the most deserving projects and to do this process more efficiently. The end result: more projects get successfully funded SynSel s Synthetic GFA Provides Additional Purpose & Benefit to Developer and Project Financier The Impact Investing profile as well as job-creation, profitability and efficiency of a template model that can scale to multiple sites. This is what qualifies the SynSel business proposition for a synthetic GFA. The default mode for a GFA is one in which the GFA is funded by the developer or a key project stakeholder: an organic GFA. SynSel s construction lender is also SynSel s business partner in that plant profits are shared. To assure that the SynSel biofuels revolution becomes a reality, our construction lender/business partner has agreed to move forward with the 100% financing loan. This is triggered when the GFA requirement has been met by an outside investor in lieu of a SynSel stakeholder. This represents a unique opportunity for investors looking for a fixed return for 3 years with no risk to principal. The additional upside of Impact investing assures a profitable project - good for society the environment while meeting our lenders requirement for job-creation. Lowers Potential Construction Loan Default Risk: The funding of the GFA, in and of itself, establishes strategic partnership between the GFA lender, SynSel, and SynSel s business and construction lender partner. As a reminder, the GFA does not serve as collateral to the business partner and construction lender; however, once the GFA s administrative hold is released after the GFA obligation is met, these funds could be leveraged to assist if additional debt service funding should be required after construction and commissioning. The strategic GFA relationship serves as the foundation for future collaboration.
How the GFA works GFA Highlights $150MM goes into Good Faith Account (GFA) in owner s name: Single Purpose Corporate Entity with GFA owner as only signatory to the account No party has any recourse against the GFA account 3-Year maturity competitive yields GFA Interest payments are held in escrow account Auto-GFA repayment triggered by escrow in 3 years GFA is not collateral or a down payment and owner has exclusive account rights, retains complete ownership and control of the funds and they are never put at risk. The funds are not utilized for dark pool trading or any type of transaction/collateral and never leave the GFA account even for an instant Why Utilize a GFA to Unleash the Biofuels Revolution? SynSel has partnered with Plant Lender: both share in the plant s success Plant Lender is not a traditional lender GFA: Good Faith Account Traditional Financing GFA Advantage Fuel Platform Second Generation Biofuels Ethanol, Biodiesel & Fossil Fuels Syn-fuels Revolution is launched Who Takes on the risk? Synsel and Financier has 100% of Risk Post Dodd-Frank, banks avoid all risk ZERO risk Funding of PRE-Construction Covered by Financier Won t touch it Deals get done Ready for Commercial Launch? Yes Won t touch it Deals get done Impact Investing - Emphasis on Jobs Highest Priority? Feedstock In-Take 5-Year Fuel Off-Take Commodity markets when created Profits for Plant Investors 5X X Taking no risk 20-Year In-Take 20-Year Off-Take Job creation and Climate Change Benefits 25% reduction in cost Incentives of $300K per day Profits split with Financier Finance Structure 100% Debt 100% Equity 5X
What is a SynSel Plant? SynSel is a developer, technology integrator, and owner/operator of Second-Generation Biorefineries producing high-quality synthetic gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel from abundant woody biomass. The demand for these synthetic biofuels is rising rapidly, and SynSel is poised to be a leader in the US advanced biofuels market. Over the next 8 years, SynSel s goal is to develop up to 100 biorefineries across the US. The supply of wood in these communities continues to outgrow market demand and is expected to continue well into the future. SynSel counterbalances the decline of US forestry related industries by providing a profitable and eco-friendly outlet for wood biomass. SynSel s mission is to deploy environmentally friendly and sustainable biofuel solutions to generate strong returns, enhance US Energy Security, revitalize communities through job creation, mitigate waste, and provide an integral component in combatting Climate Change through dramatic reductions in carbon pollution. Helping Rural America The closure of over 300 paper mills in the last 25 years has devastated US forestry related industries and severely impacted its rural communities. Since the harvesting and processing of wood pulp biomass is labor intensive, most production facilities were located close to the biomass. The result has been high unemployment for both the harvesting/ processing and manufacturing labor forces. These communities are looking for new opportunities to employ their skilled labor force and create new wood-based products. Fortunately, SynSel offers solutions. We provide a profitable and eco-friendly outlet for wood biomass, which is then used to produce domestically-made high-demand transportation biofuels. As a result, SynSel creates a significant number of employment opportunities where each plant is located. Synthetic Fuels Revolution Since its founding, the company s strategy has been to develop a sustainable and repeatable template to deploy profitable biorefineries across the US. Each biorefinery will consume about 2,000 wet tons of locally harvested wood biomass to produce 90,000 gallons of biofuel per day. In addition to producing excellent investment returns, SynSel s conscientious use of renewable natural resources and the utilization of the core fuel-making technology combine to combat climate change and build more sustainable and resilient communities.
455 W. Fullerton Ave. Elmhurst, IL 60126 www.synsel.com