Gore, Beebe to speak at Blue Oak plant kickoff

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and Gov. Mike Beebe will speak at next Tuesday's groundbreaking for an electronics recycling plant in Osceola that is expected to employ about 50 workers, the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System's executive director said Monday.

The system is an investor in Blue Oak Arkansas, the company that plans to build the recycling plant at a cost of roughly $35 million, system Executive Director George Hopkins said.

The system's board of trustees approved an investment of up to $18 million in Blue Oak Arkansas in March, and the system's initial funding for the project is $14.84 million, Hopkins noted.

Hopkins said Gore is a partner at the California-based venture capital firm of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and a member of its "green-tech team," and Kleiner Perkins is an investor in Blue Oak Resources of Burlingame, Calif., which is investing in Blue Oak Arkansas.

John Correnti, chairman of Big River Steel, a company that plans to build a $1.1 billion steel plant near Osceola, has said he is chairman of Blue Oak Resources. He declined further comment Monday.

Hopkins said the teacher retirement system will have about 41.5 percent ownership of the firm, while Blue Oak Resources will have an approximate 35.5 percent share.

SMS Siemang of Dusseldorf, Germany, will have about an 11.4 percent ownership with the Arkansas Development Finance Authority having a 7.6 percent share and Global Principal Partners of Cleveland having a 4 percent share, Hopkins said.

A spokesman for the state Economic Development Commission, Scott Hardin, said Monday that the commission "can't comment on projects until the company makes an announcement," adding a list of incentives would be available "as soon as it's made official."

Gene Eagle, president of the Arkansas Development Finance Authority and a spokesman for Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.

Metro on 06/03/2014

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