By John Edison, Herald Staff Writer
Published Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Alerus Securities has entered into an agreement with a company behind a Richardton, N.D., corn-to-ethanol plant to act as a qualified matching service for trading membership units.
Under the agreement, Alerus offers shareholders in Red Trail Energy LLC assistance to buy, sell or trade their membership units.
Trading officially started June 15.
The Red Trail plant started ethanol production in January. According to Red Trail president and CEO Mick Miller, the 50 million-gallon, coal-fired facility was built with $40 million, which all was raised in North Dakota.
Miller said the agreement with Alerus offers the company’s shareholders liquidity with their investment. Red Trail is a privately owned company but reports publicly to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
At Red Trail’s first annual meeting in May, the company’s investors elected a seven-member board of directors to help lead the company.
Miller said Red Trail chose Alerus because of its familiarity with ethanol projects and its local roots. “They are somewhat of a local entity, and we are a North Dakota project,” Miller said.
Alerus Securities is a wholly owned subsidiary of Alerus Financial with offices in Grand Forks and West Fargo, N.D. It is a qualified matching service for 14 limited liability companies and cooperatives in the Upper Midwest, including 10 ethanol plants.
Edison reports on business. Reach him at (701) 780-1107, (800) 477-6572, ext. 107, or .
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