AppHarvest announces $50 million in United States Department of Agriculture-guaranteed funding for 30-acre Somerset, Ky., high-tech indoor farm
August 01 2022 - 8:00AM
AppHarvest, Inc. (NASDAQ: APPH, APPHW), a sustainable food company,
public benefit corporation and Certified B Corp building some of
the world’s largest high-tech indoor farms to grow affordable,
nutritious fruits and vegetables at scale while providing good jobs
in Appalachia, announced today that it secured $50 million across
two loans guaranteed by the United States Department of Agriculture
(USDA) through Greater Commercial Lending (GCL), a subsidiary of
Greater Nevada Credit Union. The financing supports AppHarvest’s
high-tech indoor berry farm in Somerset, Kentucky, which is about
84% complete and expected to be operational by year-end.
“Securing non-dilutive sources of capital to fund our growth has
been a top priority since going public early last year, and I’m
pleased with our team’s ability to source lower-cost funding in a
higher-cost lending environment,” said AppHarvest President David
Lee. “This funding agreement with the USDA allows us to continue to
scale operations as we plan to bring the Somerset farm and two
additional CEA (controlled environment agriculture) facilities
online before the end of the year, which would quadruple our farm
network and diversify our product portfolio to include berries and
salad greens.”
The USDA guarantees 80% of the GCL-arranged financing for the
Somerset berry facility through its USDA Rural Development Business
and Industry Initiative and the USDA Rural Development program.
Each loan has a 23-year term with a rate that resets every five
years based on the Federal Home Loan Bank five-year advance rate
plus 340 basis points and is interest-only for the first three
years.
The financing closed on July 29. Some of the funds will be used
by the company to satisfy an existing $46 million loan with J.P.
Morgan that was used in part to fund the initial construction phase
of AppHarvest’s Somerset farm.
About AppHarvestAppHarvest is a sustainable
food company in Appalachia developing and operating some of the
world’s largest high-tech indoor farms with robotics and artificial
intelligence to build a reliable, climate-resilient food system.
AppHarvest’s farms are designed to grow produce using sunshine,
rainwater and up to 90% less water than open-field growing, all
while producing yields up to 30 times that of traditional
agriculture and preventing pollution from agricultural runoff.
AppHarvest currently operates its flagship farm – about the size of
50 football fields – in Morehead, Ky., producing tomatoes. The
company is developing a network of farms to produce a variety of
vine crops, salad greens and berries with three more farms
currently under construction that are expected to be operational by
the end of 2022. For more information,
visit https://www.appharvest.com/.
About Greater Commercial LendingGreater
Commercial Lending (GCL) is a credit organization that brings
together credit unions and community lenders from around the U.S.
to provide government-guaranteed loans to businesses and
initiatives in rural and under-served markets throughout the U.S.
and its territories. It helps finance key infrastructure services,
like power, renewable energy, transportation and fiber optic, as
well as schools, hospitals, restaurants, agriculture, hotels and
manufacturers. GCL partners with the U.S. Small Business
Administration (SBA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA),
which guarantee loans, to arrange credit at favorable terms. GCL is
a subsidiary of Greater Nevada Credit Union (GNCU).
www.GreaterLending.com
About Greater Nevada Credit UnionGreater Nevada
Credit Union (GNCU) is headquartered in Carson City, Nevada and has
been helping Nevadans with their financial needs since 1949. The
credit union serves more than 80,000 consumers and small businesses
and has over $1.5 billion in assets. GNCU’s subsidiaries include
Greater Commercial Lending, Greater Nevada Mortgage, and Greater
Nevada Insurance. GNCU has been consistently recognized as a Best
Financial Institution in many of its service areas, as a top
employer by the Reno/Tahoe Best Places to Work Awards and is the
USDA Lender of the Year. GNCU is also the title sponsor of Greater
Nevada Field in Reno. For more information, call (800) 421-6674 or
visit www.gncu.org.
Forward-Looking Statements Certain
statements included in this press release that are not historical
facts are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe
harbor provisions under the United States Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally
are accompanied by words such as “believe,” “may,” “will,”
“estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “should,”
“would,” “plan,” “predict,” “potential,” “seem,” “seek,” “future,”
“outlook,” “can,” “goal,” “target” and similar expressions that
predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not
statements of historical matters. All statements, other than
statements of present or historical fact included in this press
release, regarding AppHarvest’s intention regarding the use of
proceeds of the loan, AppHarvest’s intention to build high-tech CEA
farms, the anticipated benefits of and production at such
facilities, including implementation of a phased approach at each
facility, timing and availability of tomatoes at top national
grocery stores and restaurants, anticipated benefits of the second
season harvest, AppHarvest’s future financial performance, as well
as AppHarvest’s growth and evolving business plans and strategy,
ability to capitalize on commercial opportunities, future
operations, estimated financial position, projected costs,
prospects, plans and objectives of management as well as the
expected closing date of the loan agreement are forward-looking
statements. These statements are based on various assumptions,
whether or not identified in this press release, and on the current
expectations of AppHarvest’s management and are not predictions of
actual performance. These forward-looking statements are provided
for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as,
and must not be relied on as, a guarantee, an assurance, a
prediction, or a definitive statement of fact or probability.
Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to
predict and will differ from assumptions. Many actual events and
circumstances are beyond the control of AppHarvest. These
forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and
uncertainties, including those discussed in the company’s Quarterly
Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC by AppHarvest on May 3,
2022, under the heading “Risk Factors,” and other documents
AppHarvest has filed, or that AppHarvest will file, with the SEC.
If any of these risks materialize or our assumptions prove
incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results
implied by these forward-looking statements. In addition,
forward-looking statements reflect AppHarvest’s expectations,
plans, or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of
this press release. AppHarvest anticipates that subsequent events
and developments will cause its assessments to change. However,
while AppHarvest may elect to update these forward-looking
statements at some point in the future, AppHarvest specifically
disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements
should not be relied upon as representing AppHarvest’s assessments
of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.
Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon the
forward-looking statements.
Media Contact: Darla Turner,
darla.turner@appharvest.comInvestor Contact: Kaveh
Bakhtiari, appharvestIR@appharvest.com
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