A new nonprofit merchant bank has opened for business in Pittsburgh, hoping to attract manufacturing companies from around the world and create thousands of jobs in the renewable energy and green technology sector.
Renewable Manufacturing Gateway quietly got underway at Two Gateway Center on Sept. 1 with the help of two Pittsburgh foundations, including RK Mellon. Armed with an initial operating budget of $1 million, RMG has an impressive team of top execs including Peter Dailey, chairman, and CEO, formerly with Allegheny Energy; Steven Adelkoff, formerly of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates & Ellis, who will split his time between a private equity firm in NYC and RMG; and Enzo Zoratto, former President and Chief Strategic Officer at Dick International.
RMG is all about reinvigorating Pittsburgh’s manufacturing base by drawing on our long history of excellence in manufacturing, science and technology, and our skilled workforce, explains Dailey. Manufacturing is a staple in this economy, this process is needed for practically everything to create the products that are used within our country and others, from plastic injection moulding to car manufacturing, it is important to keep it going and adapt to new ways.
“Our goal is to create thousands of (manufacturing) jobs in the Pittsburgh region,” he says. “Pittsburgh is a pretty special place. We are the Pittsburgh Steelers of manufacturing and I think we ought to become world champions again.”
While reaching out to manufacturers around the world, RMG will primarily focus on helping firms to raise capital through well-executed financial analyses. RMG will operate as a nonprofit bank, providing services up front for fee and while working with private equity investors on deals, says Dailey.
For example, RMG is talking with a company in Northern Europe about bringing in a technology that generates chilled air on a large scale using solar power technology. “Think of places like Oman, where it’s 125-degrees in the shade,” he says. “Converting energy to cool air is a pretty strong proposition.”
Pittsburgh is the perfect place for the RMG model, which includes coordinating with well-entrenched business incubators like Innovation Works, Catalyst Connections and the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance to cover all the bases.
“U.S. economic policies have eviscerated the middle class by dehumanizing manufacturing,” Dailey notes. “To create a stronger, more robust economy, we need a stronger, growing middle class and manufacturing and manufacturing jobs are key.”
Source: Peter Dailey (pictured above), Ty Gourley, Renewable Manufacturing Gateway
Writer: Debra Diamond Smit
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