Ten-year-old grower-owned peanut sheller expands manufacturing capabilities, strengthens good jobs

(SANTEE, SC and BRUNSWICK, ME – September 23, 2024) – CEI Capital Management LLC (CCML) has closed $10 million in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) capacity for Premium Peanut to construct a new shelling facility in Santee.

This state-of-the-art shelling facility will set a new standard for innovation in the country and enable Premium Peanut to enhance capacity and efficiency throughout its operations. Premium Peanut has a strong track record as a quality employer, offering a robust set of benefits and providing opportunities for training and advancement. The project is anticipated to create 62 new full-time positions to start, a majority of which will pay more than the MIT living wage threshold for one adult with no children in the region. The company also offers overtime and profit-sharing/annual bonuses based on its performance. Premium Peanut has a history of working with local colleges and technical schools to offer training and career advancement opportunities to its employees.

“This financing supports a project that allows our company to continue to build on our grower-owned model for producers in both South Carolina and Georgia, expanding our capacity and efficiency, while creating quality jobs in Santee. We are excited for the future of our company and are looking forward to beginning the next phase of construction of the new shelling facility,” said Clay Garnto, President and CEO of Premium Peanut.  

Headquartered in Douglas, Georgia, the innovative, grower-owned peanut shelling company has steadily expanded since its founding in 2014. The company started shelling peanuts in January 2016, and has since expanded to also produce peanut oil, peanut meal, peanut hulls, and peanut seed. With over 450 grower-owners spread across Georgia and South Carolina, Premium Peanut has given peanut farmers an opportunity to retain more value from the peanuts that they grow. Over the life of the company, Premium Peanut has remained true to its profit-sharing model, and has paid over $98 million to its grower-owners in dividends.

“Premium Peanut presents that opportunity for folks to be able to really stay and live and raise their families in Orangeburg County,” said Dr. Walt Tobin, President of Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College.

“Premium Peanut is creating and maintaining good jobs in this rural region,” said CCML CEO Traci Vaine. “The company has been able to replicate its model to invest in another community, establish partnerships, and ultimately contribute to strengthening the local economy.”

CCML invests in rural manufacturing projects that revitalize core industries or support emerging sectors. This is its second investment in Premium Peanut, continuing a focus to bring critically needed private investment to deeply distressed rural areas, where access to capital is limited or non-existent.

Truist Bank provided the NMTC equity and CCML was joined by co-allocatees Hampton Roads Ventures, Mascoma Community Development, The Innovate Fund and Truist Community Development Enterprises. Hope Community Capital served as investment consultant to CCML.

About CEI Capital Management

CEI Capital Management LLC works nationally to connect new and existing rural manufacturing companies with flexible capital through the federal New Markets Tax Credit and Maine New Markets Capital Investment Tax Credit programs. CEI Capital Management invests in companies committed to building accessible good jobs that provide living wages, comprehensive benefits and opportunities for training and advancement in alignment with CEI’s Good Jobs Framework. Since 2004, CEI Capital Management has placed over $1.02 billion in 103 different projects across the U.S.

CCML is a wholly owned subsidiary of Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI), a Maine-based nonprofit community development financial institution.