Calgary-based Northstar Clean Technologies announced recently that the waste-to-value upstart has received a Letter of Interest from Export Development Canada.
EDC’s letter suggests that the organization may provide financial support to help Alberta’s Northstar expand into the U.S. market by opening a shingle reprocessing facility for North America’s circular economy.
Greg Phaneuf, who serves Northstar as vice president of corporate development and chief financial officer, believes that the “LOI from EDC could ultimately lead to a foundational funding vehicle for Northstar’s US capital strategy.”
Northstar’s second Canadian facility, the Empower Calgary Facility, was supported by the Business Development Bank of Canada. The facility’s launch follows an initial pilot opening in Delta.
Moving forward, Northstar has crosshairs on the American market, with EDC as a potential partner to help fund the expansion.
“While still early days, we are very encouraged by EDC’s interest to potentially provide financial support for our growth aspirations in the United States,” says Aidan Mills, chief executive officer of Northstar.
“The United States represents a significant market for Northstar,” explains Mills, “and we continue to advance site selection—permitting and securing long-term supply agreements—for a number of U.S. locations.”
The Letter of Interest states EDC could extend credit up to $12 million for Northstar.
“These efforts are in line with our existing liquid asphalt off-take arrangements for the first four facilities in the United States,” said Mills. “Our international growth objectives align seamlessly with EDC’s mandate and we look forward to a long and prosperous partnership.”
Northstar has developed a proprietary design process for discarded asphalt shingles, otherwise destined for landfills, to extract liquid asphalt for use in new shingle manufacturing and asphalt roof systems—while also extracting aggregate for use in construction products and other industrial applications.
“Northstar’s business model lends itself to prudent leverage to materially reduce our project cost of capital, thereby enhancing returns for our shareholders,” stated Phaneuf.
“We look forward to working with EDC to crystallize funding terms as part of our larger growth capital initiatives,” he said.
Northstar trades publicly under the ticker symbol ROOF.