Business Breakdowns
Episode 79 Archaea Energy: Turning Pollution into Profit
Business Breakdowns

Episode 79: Archaea Energy: Turning Pollution into Profit

Business Breakdowns

Episode 79

Archaea Energy: Turning Pollution into Profit

Chadd is a portfolio manager of the Ave Maria mutual funds. We cover the mechanics of turning landfill waste into usable methane, the driving factors behind the large untapped opportunity in this sector, and touch on the significance of BP's acquisition of Archaea.

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[00:02:59] - [First question] - Defining landfill gas and its historic and current state

[00:05:50] - What Archaea is, their business scale, and economic profile

[00:07:44] - The waste hauling value chain and how money is made in the ecosystem 

[00:11:33] - How Archaea takes something that’s perceived to be worthless and profits from it

[00:15:47] - The way the company is organized to capture and capitalize on this opportunity set

[00:17:56] - How much visibility they have into their future earnings

[00:19:04] - The renewable fuel standard and how revenue is derived from it 

[00:20:10] - Explaining how you produce renewable natural gas from a landfill

[00:24:52] - The unit economics of a single Archaea landfill to gas site 

[00:25:40] - How much capital can be deployed into one of their projects

[00:26:45] - What differentiates and makes Archaea defensible from private equity companies 

[00:27:51] - The history of the company, how it was founded, and its major players

[00:29:57] - Thoughts about the size of the untapped opportunity in this sector

[00:31:57] - Where is Europe in doing something comparable to this 

[00:32:59] - Free cash flow conversion and financing requirements

[00:34:18] - The current state of the competitive landscape   

[00:37:37] - The key risks for a business like Archaea

[00:40:30] - Lessons learned from studying Archaea from an investor’s and operator’s perspective

[00:43:02] - His reaction to the news of Archaea being purchased 

Archaea Energy: Turning Pollution into Profit

Introduction

Zack
This is Zack Fuss, an investor at Irenic Capital. And today, we're breaking down Archaea Energy. Archaea is one of the largest and fastest-growing providers of renewable natural gas in the U.S. The company uses methane produced by landfills as its feedstock to create renewable electricity and natural gas. To break down Archaea, I'm joined by Chadd Garcia. Chadd is Lead Portfolio Manager of the Ave Maria Focused Fund and Co-Portfolio Manager of the Ave Maria Growth Fund. You may have seen Archaea in the news this week. As of Monday, BP announced a deal to buy Archaea for $4.1 billion, and we recorded this on Friday before this news broke. The bulk of our discussion, therefore, does not touch on BP. It serves as an explanation for what BP has bought and why they found it to be an attractive asset. At the end of our conversation, we asked Chadd for his quick reaction to the news. Please enjoy this Business Breakdown of Archaea Energy.

The Business of Landfill Gas

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