Kentucky

Governor Matt Bevin

Canada as a national security threat to the United States The Hill President Trump says that Canada poses a national security threat to the United States. He has therefore imposed tariffs of 25 percent on imported Canadian steel products and 10 percent on Canadian aluminum products.”

June 30, 2018 (approx.) SEC Filing of Braidy Atlas Aluminum Mill “11. While Deutsche Bank has been retained to serve as lead credit advisor for the debt portion of the mill financing, Braidy Atlas currently has no commitments or arrangements with Deutsche Bank or any other party to extend credit to finance the construction of the Braidy Atlas mill. KfW Development Bank [German state bank] (“KfW”) has also proposed a lead position. Neither has provided a commitment to date, and are both working together at this time. [Both Deutsche and KfW have since disappeared from reporting]

12. Braidy Atlas has recently submitted an application to the Department of Energy to obtain up to $1 billion of debt financing under the Department’s Advanced Technologies Vehicle Manufacturing (“ATVM”) Program. Braidy Atlas is seeking long term (approximately 10-year maturity), low-cost financing (based on U.S. Treasury rates) under the ATVM Program for the construction of the mill. Braidy Industries also expects that Braidy Atlas may seek export credit support from the German government in an amount of up to $500 million to cover much of the expected cost of the equipment to be purchased.” h/t @kelly2277

January 27, 2019 The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today lifted sanctions imposed on En+ Group plc (“En+”), UC Rusal plc (“Rusal”), and JSC EuroSibEnergo (“ESE”), following an earlier notification submitted to Congress on December 19, 2018. Steve Mnuchin, Treasury Secretary

Soft on Rusal, tough on Canada: Pressure on Trump to cut tariffs on Canadian aluminum producers Financial Post Naomi Powell January 29, 2019

Could political ties help Braidy Industries get a major federal loan? Louisville Courier Journal , February 15, 2019 “Bevin is a political ally of Vice President Mike Pence, dating back to when Pence was governor of Indiana, and has met with Trump on several occasions to discuss criminal justice reform and other issues. Trump personally mentioned Braidy at a rally at Eastern Kentucky University last year, and U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell spoke about the startup during a speech at the Senate in mid-2018 about how American manufacturing is thriving under the GOP’s leadership.”

With Sanctions Lifted, Rusal to Invest in U.S. Aluminum Mill Bloomberg Just months after being freed from U.S. sanctions, Russia’s largest aluminum maker plans to invest in a new aluminum rolling mill in Kentucky. United Co. Rusal, controlled by billionaire Oleg Deripaska until the U.S. Treasury forced him to reduce his stake earlier this year, intends to invest up to $200 million in the plant being built by closely held Braidy Industries. Rusal will also supply the mill with unfinished aluminum from plants in Siberia. After intensive lobbying by Gregory Barker, the Englishman who chairs Deripaska’s erstwhile holding company En+ Group, the Treasury agreed to end sanctions in exchange for an agreement the tycoon would give up control over the company. Deripaska, still under personal sanctions, remains the largest shareholder.”

Russian aluminum maker investing in Kentucky plant after sanctions lifted The Hill The agreement, which is set to run for 10 years, would turn Braidy into Rusal’s biggest customer and give the Russian company a foothold into the United States’ rolled-aluminum market, according to The Wall Street Journal. Rusal would own a 40 percent stake in the Braidy unit that will operate the mill, according to the Journal.”

RUSAL and Braidy Industries will construct a green field aluminium rolling mill in Ashland, Kentucky Moscow, April 15, 2019 – “RUSAL (SEHK: 486, Moscow Exchange: RUAL), one of the leading global  aluminium producers, and Braidy Industries Inc., a US-based holding company which owns both Veloxint, an MIT-incubated lightweighting solutions company, and NanoAl, a Northwestern University incubated materials research and technology company, announced an intent to establish a joint project in Ashland, Kentucky, USA to produce flat rolled  aluminium products for the US automotive industry.” Rusal

Russia’s Rusal to invest $200 million in Kentucky aluminum plant MarketWatch/ Wall St Journal Bob Tita April 14, 2019 “Russian aluminum giant United Co. Rusal plans to invest $200 million in a Kentucky rolling mill that would be the largest new aluminum plant built in the U.S. in nearly four decades…Now tariffs have pushed up the cost of foreign-made aluminum, giving domestic producers greater pricing power in a market where production capacity is already tight. “It’s the start of a megatrend and I want to be in the middle of it,” said Braidy Chief Executive Craig Bouchard. Rusal is the world’s second-largest producer of raw aluminum.”

Craig Bouchard co-authored “America For Sale, How the Foreign Pack Circled and Devoured Esmark.” Copyright 2009 with James V. Koch, CEO of NumeriX, risk management via derivatives, 1998-2003. Prior to 1998, 19 years rising to Sr. VP of First National Bank of Chicago out of Hong Kong, later Global Head of Derivative Trading and Quantitative Research. Coincidence: Steve Bannon, derivative guru Mercer‘s darling, was in Hong Kong in the mid-1990s.  Craig Bouchard, son of Inland Steel founder Robert Bouchard, invested in his brother James Bouchard’s Esmark (Steel) in 2003. “In October 2008, Founder James P. Bouchard brought the Esmark legacy and brand name back to life for a third time, and today continues to refine its pathfinder business model that has propelled the company into a $400 million dollar enterprise in just three years.” Baltimore Sun 2 Bouchard brothers decided they’d build a ‘family steel company’ Allison Connolly and Lorraine Mirabella August 3, 2007–A Russian company makes a retreat from the US steel business Platts August 7, 2014 “Severstal in August [2008] of that year paid $1.1 billion for Esmark assets that included the former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel,”

Braidy Industries, Inc. was registered as a corporation in Delaware on August 26, 2016 Delaware Div. of Corporations and registered as a foreign corp. in KY June 1, 2017.  “Through our collaboration with local and state government officials and the Ashland Alliance, we have partnered with the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) to receive up to $10 million in tax incentives through the Kentucky Business Investment program. We will also be working with the Kentucky Skills Network” Braidy

“Nate Haney has served as Senior Vice President, Government Relations, at Braidy Industries since May 2017. He previously was a principal at McCarthy Strategy Solutions, a government relations firm, and served as Deputy Secretary of the Governor’s Cabinet for Kentucky.” SEC

Warning Letter to Mnuchin regarding Braidy Atlas & Rusal posing a national security threat by working on Department of Defense contracts May 16, 2019 Sen. Brown, Sen. Wyden, Sen. Waters, Rep. Schiff, Rep.Cummings, Rep. Engel, Rep. Himes, Rep. Doggett