Citi, New Markets Community Capital, and MBS Urban Initiatives Partner with rPlanet Earth to Create High-Quality Jobs and Increase Availability of Recycled Materials in Southern California

Citi, New Markets Community Capital, and MBS Urban Initiatives provided
New Market Tax Credit (NMTC) financing for rPlanet Earth, a new company
that is bringing more efficient polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
recycling to the United States. This new facility will be rPlanet
Earth’s first plant and serve as the company’s headquarters.

Financing for the project was structured through the NMTC Program, a
federal initiative designed to spur investment in businesses and real
estate projects located in low-income communities. Citi provided $7.5
million in NMTC allocation and $6.6 million of NMTC equity. New Markets
Community Capital provided $8 million of NMTC allocation, and MBS Urban
Initiatives provided $5 million of NMTC allocation. Private investors
provided the remainder of the capital.

The new facility will be vertically integrated from raw material
feedstock (baled post consumer PET) to finished products (food grade
recycled PET – “rPET” packaging). By employing highly efficient and
technologically advanced equipment, rPlanet will be able to eliminate
costly intermediate stage production steps, supplier mark-ups and
transportation costs, which in turn will allow it to offer high quality,
competitively priced rPET bottle grade packaging for local, regional and
national customers. The facility is expected to create over 100 high
quality jobs.

“Citi is honored to partner with rPlanet Earth to help finance this new
state-of-the-art manufacturing facility,” said Richard Gerwitz, Co-Head
of Citi Community Capital. “The creation of accessible high-paying jobs
will be an economic boost to the residents of the local communities, and
the increased availability of bottle grade recycled PET material will
provide a positive environmental impact to the entire Southern
California region.”

Gerwitz went on to say “As a result of these positive environmental and
social impacts, this transaction will contribute to Citi’s Environmental
Finance Goal to lend, invest and facilitate $100 billion over the next
10 years to activities that reduce the impacts of climate change and
create environmental solutions that benefit people and communities.”

“We are very pleased that Citi, New Markets Community Capital, and MBS
Urban Initiatives have partnered with us to provide a portion of the
capital, in the form of low cost debt financing, that is required to
build-out and equip our first plant in Vernon, CA,” Said Robert Daviduk,
Co-CEO of rPlanet Earth. “We look forward to commencing operations in
2017 and having a positive impact on the local economy, its residents
and the environment.”

“We are looking forward to creating jobs in an economically distressed
area of Los Angeles. Our facility will be the first in the U.S. that
offers a broad range of rPET packaging to the consumer products, food,
beverage and retail industries,” said Joseph Ross, Co-CEO of rPlanet
Earth. “We intend to do good by our stakeholders, employees and
customers in an environmentally sustainable manner.”

“New Markets Community Capital/TELACU is honored to have been able to
team with Citi and MBS Urban Initiatives in providing New Markets Tax
Credits to close the financing gap that allows rPlanet Earth to move
forward with the tenant improvements of a new leading edge technology
manufacturing facility in one of the more highly distressed communities
in Los Angeles and that will also result in the creation of a
substantial number of good paying jobs,” said Jose Villalobos, Senior
Vice President of New Markets Community Capital. “The rPlanet Earth
project will serve as a catalyst for decades to come as the community
moves to rebuild and to once again thrive.”

“MBS Urban Initiatives is proud to use our NMTC allocation to make sure
jobs from the rPlanet Earth LA facility will be within reach for people
within the surrounding communities,” said Laurel Tinsley, Executive
Director of MBSUI. “Our NMTC investment into rPlanet is just a
continuation of the work McCormack Baron Salazar has done for over 30
years in Los Angeles and nationally to revitalize and transform
low-income communities into neighborhoods of choice with access to safe
and affordable housing and quality living wage jobs. The MBS team will
expand its existing community outreach efforts as a result of the
rPlanet Earth NMTC investment. Working with our community partners, MBS
will manage a job readiness and outreach program that will help recruit
and train eligible candidates for employment opportunities with rPlanet
Earth when the facility opens in 2017. These efforts will be coordinated
and implemented through the Pueblo del Sol Community Service Center,
which provides job readiness, health and youth programs for local
residents and the surrounding community of the Boyle Heights/East Los
Angeles area.”

About Citi Community Capital

Citi Community Capital (CCC) is a premier financial partner with
nationally recognized expertise in financing all types of affordable
housing and community reinvestment projects. CCC's origination,
structuring, asset and risk management staff across the country provides
creative financing solutions designed to meet their clients' needs. CCC
helps community development financial institutions, real estate
developers, national intermediaries and nonprofit organizations achieve
their goals through a broad, integrated platform of debt and equity
offerings. Additional information may be found at www.citicommunitycapital.com.

Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer
accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions.
Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with
a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer
banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities
brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.

Additional information may be found at http://www.citigroup.com
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About rPlanet Earth

rPlanet Earth is a “green tech”/ “clean-tech” company focused on the
manufacture of high value added food, beverage, cosmetics,
pharmaceutical and other types of containers with the primary raw
material feedstock being post-consumer Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET
which is also known as Plastic #1 – primarily clear water and soda
bottles). Our first facility will be located in Vernon, California and
when completely built out will recycle over 160 million pounds per year
of water and soda bottles to be used in the domestic manufacture of new
recycled PET (‘rPET”) based containers. The process we employ is known
as “bottle to bottle” recycling which is the highest value added and
most environmentally sustainable use of postconsumer PET. Our company
will increase the supply of rPET in a market that is best characterized
as having a chronic shortage of supply of bottle grade recycled PET
despite very high levels of demand.

Our company will have a tremendous impact on the availability of
recycled bottle grade PET in the U.S. that can be used in direct food
contact applications. Bottle grade rPET has to meet the strictest
standards set by the FDA for direct food contact applications and our
facility will be one of the few in the U.S. that is capable of producing
this extremely high quality material. The process is referred to as
“bottle to bottle” recycling because bottles that have been discarded
can be recycled into a clean, decontaminated PET flake that can be used
to make new bottles. Bottle to bottle recycling is truly a closed loop
process that reduces the need for the production of virgin PET from
fossil fuels (crude oil & natural gas). As a result our highly efficient
plants will help to alleviate the negative environmental impact caused
by the production of virgin PET. It is estimated that recycling PET uses
84% less energy, produces 71% less greenhouse gases and uses 90% less
water versus the manufacture of virgin PET. 100% of the food grade
packaging materials that we produce will be manufactured in the U.S.

About New Markets Community Capital

In 2002, TELACU formed New Markets Community Capital, LLC for the
specific purpose of applying for and securing allocations of New Markets
Tax Credit (NMTC) from the U.S. Department of Treasury/CDFI Fund. TELACU
has been successful in its efforts and has secured six NMTC allocation
awards totaling $205 million. NMCC utilizes the NMTC Program to build
partnerships and make investments that serve as vital catalysts in
generating a substantial increase in jobs, services, advancement, and
self-sufficiency for the residents of highly distressed low-income
communities. NMCC has used the $205 million to make loans, and equity
investments, at below market terms to eligible operating and real estate
projects throughout California. NMCC has funded sixteen projects that
will create/retain in excess of 1,500 permanent jobs.

Formed in 1968, TELACU is a nonprofit community development corporation
with a mission of addressing the needs of low income communities through
its economic initiatives by providing access to capital, capital
investment and job creation. The TELACU Model is based upon the belief
that there is no more viable business venture than one that is
economically sound, enhances the community, and positively impacts
people’s lives.

Additional information may be found at http://www.telacu.com.

About MBS Urban Initiatives

MBS Urban Initiatives CDE, an affiliate of McCormack Baron Salazar, Inc.
(MBS), has received six NMTC awards totaling $275 million. MBSUI is
investing its allocation in low-income communities in cities around the
country, with a focus on developments that accelerate renewal by
bringing jobs and economic activity back to these neighborhoods. MBS has
developed over $3.52 billion in residential and commercial real estate,
all of it in the most challenging low income urban communities around
the country, and the investments of MBS CDE complement this work.

Our NMTCs help fund commercial, retail, mixed-use and for-sale
developments which enhance new housing development in distressed
communities across the country, thus bringing to these neighborhoods
critical jobs, services, and opportunities for advancement that will
ensure and expedite their revitalization. Since receiving our first
award in 2006, we have closed 36 NMTC transactions (in roles as CDE,
QALICB, Developer and Consultant), including 7 NMTC transactions closed
with third party allocation. These transactions helped to close
financing gaps and enable more than $850 million in high-impact
developments in deeply distressed neighborhoods to become a reality.

Additional information may be found at http://www.mccormackbaron.com/
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