“We have a major problem. America is addicted to oil...”

The words of President Bush in his State of the Union address this year resonated around the world. The President went on to suggest that with demand unlikely to fall, alternative fuels presented the major, viable solution to this ‘major problem’ facing the nation. Of all the potential options, it is ethanol that has become the poster-boy for the alternative energy revolution. A joint study by the USDA and DOE concluded that the land resources of the US could eventually produce a sustainable supply of biomass sufficient to displace 30% of the country’s present gasoline consumption.

Already, the US alone consumes 4.4 billion gallons of ethanol every year. In North America, the corn-based ethanol industry is now extremely well-developed and refined and from its origins in the mid-west corn-belt states, it is growing exponentially as newbuild plants appear across the US and Canada.

Spurred by strong governmental support, tariffs and taxes, investors are now funding the biggest expansion of the North American ethanol industry for over two decades. Shares in the biggest US ethanol companies are skyrocketing and from Bill Gates to Goldman Sachs, serious investors are taking large stakes in ethanol operations. Banks are now starting to take the ethanol industry seriously: both project finance and commodity finance departments coming together to fund the entire supply-chain of the industry. The financial community will be crucial in deciding ethanol’s destiny. It is incumbent on all the participants in the manufacture and distribution of ethanol to come together and build the industry, with the strong support of an informed financial community, and thus enshrine the success of the biofuel. It is with this goal in mind that Project Finance Magazine and Trade Finance Magazine present:

The Ethanol Americas Finance and Investment Conference

The conference will unite the major players in the ethanol industry with our established clients in commodity, trade and project finance, the private equity and investment banking communities.

Attendees at the conference will have the opportunity to hear from and network with the whole gamut of players in the ethanol industry: producers, traders, project and trade financiers, lawyers, insurers, builders, investors and representatives from governments, industry associations and the automotive, rail and oil sectors.

Highlights of the conference will include:

• A large scale producer and trader panel featuring experienced ethanol plant operators and commodity trading houses discussing their hopes for the future of the industry, risk mitigation and how they believe participants can become involved more actively to grow the market
• Presentations from the automotive and oil industries outlining their plans for involvement in the ethanol sector
• A look at corn versus sugar as a feedstock and a comparative analysis of the North and South American ethanol industries’ evolutions
• A financier panel giving the chance for debt financiers at both the established ethanol banks and the larger global commodity banks to outline their strategies for entry and continued involvement in the industry
• An equity investor panel and a production economics panel where major investors and contractors will debate the future viability, cost, efficiency, capacity and location of newbuild projects
• The views of the government, the railroads and the major ethanol associations
• A look at alternative fuels that might present an option to ethanol in meeting future energy demand, their advantages and drawbacks and their stage of development.

Hear from over 40 renowned and respected speakers debating and discussing the hottest issues affecting the ethanol industry.  They include:

Sebastien Ribatto, Director, North and Central America, Agricultural Finance Societe Generale CIB

Michael Allison, Division Director, Commodities Group, Macquarie Bank

Peter Nessler Jr., Vice President, Renewable Fuels Group, FCStone, LLC

Fred Finger, Senior Consultant, RW Beck

Linda Searcy, Director, Luminate

Lawrence J. Russo, Office of the Biomass Program, U.S. Department of Energy

Kory Teneycke, Executive Director, Canadian Renewable Fuels Association

Michael Trentel, CFO, Panda Energy International Inc.

Fabrizio Zichichi, Executive Vice President, Noble Clean Fuels

Bill Krueger, CEO, Lansing Ethanol Services

Robert Lundeen, President & CEO, Mid America Bio-Energy & Commodities, LLC

D. G. MacKenzie, President and CEO, Permolex International, L.P.

Susan Stockstill, Manager Ethanol Planning, Burlington Northern Santa Fe

Matt Traister, Midwest Regional Manager, O'Brien & Gere

Ted Helms, General Manager, Petrobras NY

Craig Tashjian, Regional Head, North America and Central America, Commodities Group, Societe Generale CIB

Wolfgang Bergman, Vice President, Commodity Derivatives-Energy, Societe Generale CIB

This event represents a unique opportunity to create an educational and networking experience featuring senior representatives from every group that will be responsible for driving the industry forward over the next few years. As the US RFA wrote itself this year, ‘from niche to nation’. It is imperative that the ethanol industrymakes this jump if it is to survive and prosper andonly with the informed participation of the globalfinancial community can this dream be realized.

We look forward to seeing you in New York this December.