Sovereign Pipe Closes $7 Million in NMTC Financing; Company will be First Tenant in Oklahoma Industrial Park Owned by Citizen Potawatomi Nation; Latest Oklahoma Investment by Arkansas Capital Corporation Will Bring New Opportunity to Severely Distressed Community
Shawnee, Oklahoma – Sovereign Pipe Company has announced the closing of $7 million in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) financing to manufacture high-density polyethylene piping from 2 inches to 48 in diameter, significantly increasing the company’s capacity to serve the oil and gas industry, municipal water supplies, telecommunications buildouts, and other projects.
The project will be the first tenant in the Iron Horse Industrial Park, which is owned and operated by the Citizen Potawatomi Nation (CPN). The industrial park is on tribal land.
The 50,000 square foot production facility is expected to open in August 2022 and create 65 permanent full-time jobs over the next few years.
The new facility qualified for the federal NMTC program because it is in a highly distressed census tract with a 50.1% poverty rate (over 4 times the national rate) and area median gross family income of $21,766 that is 37% of the state median gross family income.
NMTC financing is provided by Heartland Renaissance Fund, a subsidiary of Little Rock-based Arkansas Capital Corporation, which has now invested in three projects across Oklahoma totaling $23 million in NMTC allocation. Cumulatively, it has invested $375 million of NMTC allocation supporting over 40 projects throughout the states of Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
John A. “Rocky” Barrett, CPN chairman, said, “The Citizen Potawatomi Nation is grateful for the NMTC financing from our partners at Heartland and Wells Fargo, with the participation of our own CDFI lender, the Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation. “Sovereign Pipe Technologies is an important step as we diversify our Nation’s economy to include well-paying manufacturing jobs at the Iron Horse Industrial Park.”
“Arkansas Capital is proud to be a financing partner supporting Sovereign Pipe as the first tenant in the Iron Horse Industrial Park.” said company CEO Sam Walls. “This park is an important part of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s economic development efforts and we are delighted the project will create 65 quality jobs.”
Heartland Renaissance Fund is the sole community development entity (CDE) for the project. Wells Fargo serves as the tax credit investor, providing $2.2 million in tax credit equity.
“Wells Fargo is excited to be involved in the Sovereign Pipe transaction as it opens its manufacturing operations in the Iron Horse Industrial Park,” said Lee Winslett; managing director for Wells Fargo Community Lending and Investment.
###
About the U.S. Treasury Department’s New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program
NMTCs were established by Congress in 2000 to stimulate investment and economic growth in designated low-income communities. The NMTC Program is administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund.
About Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation
Founded in 2003, the Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation (CPCDC), a tribally chartered nonprofit corporation, provides access to capital and business development services to Native Americans to expand the capacities of small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs. As a nonprofit CDFI, the CPCDC has loaned millions of dollars needed by small businesses to turn their ambitions into reality while helping to stimulate job creation and economic development.
The CPCDC is owned by the Citizen Pottawatomie Nation (CPN) which is one of 38 federally recognized Native American tribes headquartered in Oklahoma. The tribe’s governmental jurisdiction includes 900 square miles in parts of Pottawatomie and Oklahoma counties. The CPN recognizes more than 33,000 citizens around the world.
About Arkansas Capital
Arkansas Capital is a private, nonprofit lending corporation dedicated to empowering entrepreneurs in Arkansas and in surrounding states. Arkansas Capital offers flexible capital solutions to meet the unique needs of entrepreneurs, small businesses, and economic and community development projects, with emphasis on serving low-income and rural communities. Working in partnership with commercial banks, government agencies, and others at the local, state, regional, and national levels since 1957, Arkansas Capital has deployed more than $2.47 billion in capital financing.
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a leading financial services company that has approximately $1.9 trillion in assets. Wells Fargo serves one in three U.S. households and more than 10% of small businesses in the U.S., and is a leading middle market banking provider in the U.S.
The company provides a diversified set of banking and investment and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through four reportable operating segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth & Investment Management.
Wells Fargo ranked No. 41 on Fortune’s 2022 rankings of America’s largest corporations. The company focuses its social impact on building a sustainable, inclusive future for all by supporting housing affordability, small business growth, financial health, and a low-carbon economy in the communities it serves.
