MEDIA RELEASE PR38485
Waste Management and Enerkem Announce Strategic Investment - Waste Management Joins Rho
Ventures, Braemar Energy Ventures, BDR Capital and Cycle Capital as Investor in Enerkem
HOUSTON, TX, and MONTREAL, Feb. 24 /CNW-AsiaNet/ --
Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) and Enerkem Inc., today announced a strategic
investment by Waste Management in Enerkem, as part of Enerkem's new financing round.
The closing of this new round of financing which generated CDN $53.8
million comes from Enerkem's existing institutional investors, Rho Ventures,
Braemar Energy Ventures and BDR Capital as well as from new investors, Waste
Management and Cycle Capital. The new funds raised will be used to support
Enerkem's growth plan, including initiating the construction of its second
waste-to-biofuels plant. Morgan Stanley acted as Enerkem's agent.
Enerkem's proprietary thermo-chemical technology helps convert waste
materials into biofuels such as ethanol. Its technology is able to process
diverse carbon-based feedstocks, including sorted municipal solid waste,
construction and demolition wood, as well as agricultural and forest residues.
"We want to extract more value from the materials we manage than anyone
else in our industry through new and emerging processing and conversion
technologies," said Tim Cesarek, managing director of Organic Growth at Waste
Management. "Combining Waste Management's industry leadership and expertise in
the collection and management of a wide range of segmented waste streams with
Enerkem's leading clean technology solutions, we are broadening our portfolio
of conversion technologies in the waste-to-biofuels market which is key to
developing new, higher value added end markets for materials."
"This financing round validates Enerkem's business and advances our path
towards leadership in the waste and advanced fuels markets," said Vincent
Chornet, President and Chief Executive Officer of Enerkem. "The financial and
strategic support of these world-class investors, bringing together our
existing investors with Waste Management and Cycle Capital, will accelerate
the transformation of the waste-to-biofuels industry that Enerkem is
marshalling."
In December 2009, Enerkem was awarded US$50 million in funding by the
U.S. Department of Energy for development of its planned Mississippi plant.
Its commercial-scale demonstration facility in Westbury, Canada, which was
completed in 2009, reached 1,000 hours of operation. The new funds raised will
be used to support Enerkem's growth plan, including construction of its second
plant, in partnership with the City of Edmonton and Alberta Innovates.
The investment in Enerkem complements Waste Management's comprehensive
waste services in the areas of recycling, landfill, waste-to-energy and
landfill gas-to-energy. This investment will also help move Waste Management
toward meeting three of its sustainability goals: doubling its renewable
energy production and tripling the amount of recyclables processed by 2020,
and investing in emerging technologies for managing waste.
About Enerkem
Enerkem is a leading waste-to-biofuels company. Its proprietary
thermo-chemical technology converts residual materials, such as non-recyclable
municipal solid waste, into clean transportation fuels, advanced chemicals and
electricity. The company was founded in 2000 and currently operates two plants
in Canada: a pilot facility in Sherbrooke and a commercial-scale plant in
Westbury. It will soon start the construction of its waste-to-biofuels plant
in Edmonton, Canada and is currently developing a similar project in
Mississippi, for which it was awarded US$50 million in funding by the U.S.
About Waste Management
Waste Management, based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of
comprehensive waste management services in North America. Our subsidiaries
provide collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal
services. We are also a leading developer, operator and owner of
waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States.
Our customers include residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal
customers throughout North America. To learn more visit www.wm.com or
This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements
are information of a non-historical nature or which relate to future events
and are subject to risks and uncertainties. In many cases, you can identify
forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should,"
"expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts,"
"potential," or "continue," or the negative of these terms and other
comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions. Actual results
could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking
statements as a result of a number of factors. The forward-looking statements
made in this press release relate only to events as of the date of this
release. We undertake no ongoing obligation to update these statements.
SOURCE: Enerkem Inc.; Waste Management, Inc.
CONTACT: Marie-Hélène Labrie
Enerkem
+1-(514) 875-0284 x 231
mlabrie(at)enerkem.com
Wes Muir
Waste Management
+1-(713) 328-7053
wmuir(at)wm.com/
(WM)
Translations:
NEWS 
