Annual Report - CoBank

E N E R G Y & W A T E R B A N K I N G G R O U PA l i n da C a p i ta lPa rtners LLCThe City of Santa Paula, California, often calledthe citrus capital of the world, sits in a richagricultural valley lined with orange, lemonand avocado groves. When the city — 65 milesnorth of Los Angeles — needed to replace itsaging wastewater facility, Alinda CapitalPartners LLC and partner PERC WaterCorporation were brought in to design, build,operate and finance the project.Alinda Capital is the nation’s largest managerof pension fund assets invested in infrastructure.It specializes in funding the construction,operation and maintenance of infrastructureassets for communities, businesses andgovernments. The company has ownershipinterests in infrastructure businesses thatoperate in 15 states, all 10 Canadian provincesand six European nations.When it came time to pick a financing partnerfor the Santa Paula project, Alinda Capitalchose CoBank. The bank led a financingpackage for Alinda Capital that was completedsuccessfully despite the severity of therecent credit crunch. The Santa Paula plantis scheduled to be up and running in thesummer of 2010.“From the beginning, CoBank was veryknowledgeable in terms of the waterinfrastructure sector, and that’s one of thereasons we wanted to work with them,” saidPhilip W. Dyk, a partner at Alinda Capital.“We are pleased with the financing and workthat CoBank put into helping us with thisinvestment. We are trying to find anotherproject like the one in Santa Paula so wecan do more business with CoBank.”T i d e wat e r U t i l i t i e sDespite an economic downturn that hobbledgrowth in many regions of the country, TidewaterUtilities still added about 600 customers to itsservice territory in 2009. “We grew by about2 percent, which is not a bad number in goodtimes for your typical water utility,” said BruceO’Connor, Tidewater’s treasurer.Headquartered in Dover, Delaware, Tidewaterprovides water services to almost 33,000customers for domestic, commercial andfire protection purposes in more than 300communities along the state’s Atlantic coast.The company has successfully managed growthand maintained high standards, winningnumerous awards for both the taste of itswater and the quality of its business practices.Tidewater’s growth strategy has been to workdirectly with developers to make sure theycontinue to build lasting relationships withnew customers. And reliable access to debtcapital is a critical component of that plan.“Financial support from CoBank allows usto finance our growth and has also helpedus upgrade our existing system, which isgetting close to 50 years old,” O’Connor said.In addition to term debt, CoBank also providesTidewater with cash management solutions,including the CoLink ® online banking platform.“Going through the loan process with CoBankis painless and efficient,” O’Connor said. “Theaccessibility of CoLink ® is also very convenient,because I can get online and pay down orborrow as my needs arise.”S t r e n g t h a n d s ta b i l i t y 17