This week, middle-market private equity growth investor Tiger Infrastructure Partners announced that it will invest in Summit Carbon Solutions (SCS), a new business platform that aims to develop the world’s largest carbon capture and storage project. SCS will capture emissions from biorefineries and other industrial emitters of carbon dioxide through the U.S. Midwest. The project is a partnership with Iowa-headquartered agribusiness operator and investment management firm Summit Agricultural Group, which has operations in the U.S. and Brazil.
Once completed, SCS will have the capacity to capture and store more than 10 million tons of carbon dioxide each year, which is equivalent to taking 2 million cars off the road per year. In addition to the positive, anticipated environmental impact, it is believed that the project could enhance the economic prospects of the region’s biofuels and agriculture industries, while also incentivizing “significant” private investment and job creation throughout Midwestern communities.
The company has already secured binding agreements with a select group of leading biorefiners located in Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota to partner with SCS for carbon dioxide offtake.
This will be Tiger Infrastructure’s second partnership with Iowa-based Summit Agricultural Group, the platform’s sponsor. Tiger Infrastructure is currently the largest institutional investor in Summit’s biofuels platform, FS, which has successfully built two large-scale corn ethanol plants in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. FS is powered by renewable biomass and has one of the lowest carbon footprints of any liquid transportation fuel produced at scale in the world driven by FS’s use of second-crop corn and renewable energy.
“I am honored for Tiger Infrastructure to be selected by Bruce Rastetter and his partners as their initial institutional financial partner for this visionary carbon sequestration project,” Tiger Infrastructure CEO and Managing Director Emil W. Henry, Jr. said. “We believe this project will be best in class for large scale carbon sequestration. Our participation in this project follows a successful and rewarding partnership with Summit in creating one of the largest ethanol businesses in Brazil, a renewable energy company that demonstrates best in class international standards for responsible ESG investing.”
“Summit has had a long and successful business history with Tiger Infrastructure, and I believe they are the preeminent private equity firm providing transformational growth capital for infrastructure projects,” Summit CEO Bruce Rastetter said. “They bring a wealth of relevant experience, relationships, and skills critical to execute on this exciting and ground-breaking project.”
