A group that represents 115 Maine communities has been trying to revive a Hampden waste processing facility since its May 2020 closure after about six months of full operations. That group, the Municipal Review Committee, is preparing to purchase the facility after efforts to have a private buyer take it over fell through.
The Hampden waste plant that has been closed for more than two years is expected to restart with the help of a New York investment firm that will supply the funds and some of the expertise needed to reopen the dormant facility.
The investment firm, Revere Capital Advisors, will also be a part owner of the facility under a corporate structure that should be in place by early September.
The group that represents the more than 100 Maine towns and cities that intend to use the Hampden plant laid out more details Wednesday about how it plans to restart the facility off Coldbrook Road. The plant shut down for a lack of funds in May 2020 after about six months of full operations.
That group, the Municipal Review Committee, is in line to become the new owner of the facility after a judge gives his final approval to the transaction.
The Municipal Review Committee is buying the waste facility after it reached an agreement with the plant’s financiers earlier this year to launch a new bidding process to seek out buyers. The Municipal Review Committee agreed to put up its own, last-resort bid if no eligible buyers came forward.
The committee, which currently owns the property on which the plant sits, had expected to take ownership of the facility on June 30, but a judge halted the transaction after two creditors that put up funds for the building’s construction objected to the sale terms.
During a Wednesday meeting of the Municipal Review Committee’s board of directors, the group’s legal adviser, Jon Pottle, said he expects the last lienholder to withdraw its objections to the sale in the coming days and for the judge overseeing the case in Penobscot County Superior Court to approve the sale by next week.
In the meantime, the committee has brought in Revere Capital Advisors LLC, with operations in New York and London, as its key financial partner. The Municipal Review Committee would sell a portion of the limited liability company it plans to form to buy the Hampden plant to Revere Capital, Mike Carroll, the committee’s executive director, said Wednesday.
Revere Capital describes itself as a “boutique financial services firm” on its website. The Municipal Review Committee and the company have signed a 60-day exclusivity agreement, meaning the committee won’t work with any other companies to restart the facility during that period.
Revere Capital, in turn, has partnered with another company, CS Solutions, which specializes in clean energy and technology, to lead the plant’s restart.
