Author: sberliner

DES MOINES, IOWA – Cattlemen’s Heritage Beef Company today announced that Karis Capital of Naples, Florida is investing $150 million in the company’s planned facility in Mills County, Iowa. The investment will allow Cattlemen’s Heritage to move forward with groundbreaking for the plant later this year.

“This $150 million strategic investment by Karis represents a critical milestone in the Cattlemen’s Heritage plant,” said Chad Tentinger, principal developer for the project. “With this investment secure, we can break ground later this year. We will also be able to finalize bank financing and government incentives for a project that will provide high-quality, sustainable beef for consumers and significant economic benefits for the state of Iowa and for cattle producers.”

According to Jake Finley, the Founder and CEO of Karis, the Cattlemen’s Heritage project represents a unique investment opportunity that combines our access to capital and development expertise to an industry in need of modernization. “We see extraordinary consumer demand for low-carbon, high-quality beef that’s produced in a sustainable way, and the Cattlemen’s Heritage project does just that,” Finley said. “It will have the latest in technology with a focus on sustainability along with the highest standards for plant employees and animal welfare. That’s exactly what investors and consumers are looking for.”

Economic Gain for Iowa and for Cattle Producers

In addition, the Cattlemen’s Heritage plant will represent an economic gain of $8 billion for the state of Iowa through construction and plant operations until 2028, according to analysis by Ernie Goss, the Jack A. MacAllister Chair in Regional Economics at Creighton University. Currently, Iowa farmers are transporting approximately one million head of cattle out of state each year, causing the state to miss significant opportunities for jobs, income, economic activity and tax revenues.

“Iowa pays a heavy price due to its insufficient number of beef-processing facilities. Those costs are borne by virtually everyone in the state of Iowa, directly or indirectly, but farmers and rural communities pay a heavy toll,” Goss said. “The addition of the planned Cattlemen’s Heritage facility in southwest Iowa means 400,000 head of cattle will remain in Iowa for harvesting and processing, generating an economic gain between now and 2028 of $8 billion.”

The Cattlemen’s Heritage project will also benefit cattle producers in Iowa and surrounding states by helping them capture more for the beef retail dollar through the company’s shackle space program, which closes in June.

Additional Investments and Partnerships

According to Tentinger, the Karis Capital investment paves the way for additional funding and partnerships. “Given the public interest and benefits associated with the project, we continue to work with federal, state and local government officials who have previously expressed support,” Tentinger said. “We also continue to explore retail and other partnerships. Look for more news on those developments in the weeks to come.”

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About Cattlemen’s Heritage Beef Company: Cattlemen’s Heritage Beef Company will offer high-quality, sustainable beef with economic benefits for Iowa and family farm cattle producers. The project’s principal developer is Chad Tentinger, founder and owner of Ten Corp Inc. and an Iowa cattle producer.

About Karis: Karis is a private equity real estate company focused on industrial development. Karis has a unique focus on cold storage and food related industrial facilities while always looking to embrace a variety of development and investment approaches. The Karis team has decades of experience in real estate development, logistics, and construction excellence having developed for the largest companies in the world including the #1 e-commerce company.

DES MOINES – The Cattlemen’s Heritage Beef Company finalized the purchase of the 132-acre site of its planned 2,000-head per day beef-processing facility in Mills County on Dec. 30, 2022. The sale price was not disclosed.

“I’m very appreciative of the cooperation, flexibility, patience and professionalism that the owners, their representatives and officials in Mills County demonstrated throughout this process,” said principal developer Chad Tentinger. “Land purchases for projects of this size often take quite a while to complete and they often have unforeseen challenges, but everyone worked together very well from Day One and through negotiations until final documents were signed.”

The site is located on the northwest quadrant of Interstate 29 and Bunge Road intersection just south of the Pottawattamie-Mills county line. Groundbreaking will take place in 2023.

“A facility of our size and scale requires a certain level of infrastructure and public utilities. In addition to those requirements, this site checks all the boxes for logistics when it comes to the level of truck traffic for cattle and raw goods coming into the plant and processed goods leaving the facility,” he said. “Its proximity to I-80 is another logistical plus. With the eventual need for up to 800 employees, its location in the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan statistical area is another valuable attribute.”

Tentinger noted that the site is zoned for industrial development with emphasis on agribusiness-type operations, Bunge North America operates a soybean processing facility on the opposite side of Interstate 29, just east of the Cattlemen’s Heritage site. An ethanol plant is located nearby.

“Our facility and its state-of-the-art operations fit the neighborhood, but we’ll also be putting our best foot forward in terms of an attractive public-facing design,” Tentinger said.

The company last year selected Gross-Wen Technologies, a leading algae-based wastewater treatment company, to provide contained treatment at the site. The technology will capture and offset several thousand tons of carbon dioxide per year from the atmosphere.

“That’s the equivalent of avoiding the use of 242,000 gallons of gasoline every year,” Tentinger said. “The nitrogen and phosphorus that it will recover will be converted into valuable, natural fertilizer for re-use by area farmers as part of our goal to create a carbon-neutral footprint.”

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About Cattlemen’s Heritage Beef Company: Cattlemen’s Heritage Beef Company led by project developer Chad Tentinger, founder, and owner of Ten Corp Inc. and an Iowa cattle producer, was incorporated in 2021 with the goal to provide a market for cattle raised by smaller, independent cattle producers within a 200-mile radius of Council Bluffs, Iowa. The planned 2,000-head-per-day processing facility is scheduled to open in late 2024.