Reforestation seedling supplier CellFor announces completion of US$35M equity financing, led by new institutional investor Capricorn Investment Group

Wendy Lisney

VANCOUVER, British Columbia , July 15, 2010 (press release) – CellFor Inc., the leading provider of non-GMO elite tree varieties for reforestation, announced the closing of a new equity financing in excess of U.S.$35Million.

“This is a tremendous acknowledgement of CellFor’s progress to date and the significant opportunities available to us in the near term,” commented Tom Urban, CellFor’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “To date, CellFor has sold more than 40 million seedlings representing plantings on more than 80,000 acres. This is a clear indication that varietal forestry is gaining substantial momentum and is providing a very strong return potential for CellFor’s customers and investors.”

This financing was led by a new Institutional Investor, Capricorn Investment Group, and included significant participation from CellFor’s existing major investors.

Ion Yadigaroglu, Managing Partner of Capricorn Investment Group, noted, “CellFor has spent significant resources developing more than 10 years of field performance data. The results are compelling. CellFor elite seedlings can improve the Net Present Value per acre by 50-100% when benchmarked against industry alternatives. Improved genetics is increasingly recognized as the best way to improve profitability per acre and we feel strongly that CellFor is now poised to enter a rapid growth phase”.

Today, CellFor is the world's leading commercial-scale supplier of high yielding, varietal seedlings for reforestation. The Company’s proven and patented propagation technology, coupled with its state-of-the-art breeding and testing processes has enabled it to build on decades of traditional tree improvement to produce uniform, fast-growing varieties with highly desirable characteristics. CellFor’s elite conifer seedlings are planted in the southeastern U.S., Canada, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

CellFor’s principal institutional investors are Capricorn Investment Group, CSFB Equity Partners, LP, GrowthWorks Capital, and BDC Venture Capital. Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, CellFor has U.S. offices in Georgia, South Carolina, Arkansas, Texas and Maine. Additional information on CellFor is available on the Company’s website: www.cellfor.com

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