Stonehenge Capital recently announced a $500,000 investment in Conner Holdings, LLC, a sawmill located in rural Homerville, Georgia. The flexible working capital provided by Stonehenge will be used for equipment purchases and maintenance, which is expected to increase production capacity.
Conner Holdings manages 440 acres of Southern Yellow Pine timberland in Homerville, which it processes into lumber and other wood by-products. The main use for Southern Yellow Pine lumber is heavy construction, primarily the building and remodeling of residential homes. It is the predominant wood in outdoor decks that require treated wood products. Bark, wood shavings and other by-products are sold to paper mills, pellet mills and a mulch company.
Conner Holdings currently employs 87 people in Homerville, a rural town in Clinch county with a population of less than 2,500 and a poverty rate of 33.4 percent. The working capital provided by Stonehenge through the Georgia Agribusiness and Rural Jobs Act (GARJA) is expected to create six new jobs at the sawmill as a result of increased production. GARJA encourages private capital investment in small businesses located in rural communities to help spur economic growth and job creation in underserved areas of the state. Conner Holdings is Stonehenge Capital’s sixth investment in a rural Georgia business through the program.
Jon Dangar, Director at Stonehenge Capital, credits the GARJA program with driving growth capital to rural Georgia communities that often lack access to traditional sources of funding. “We are proud to partner with Conner Holdings to provide it the capital it needs to support its growth and drive new job creation in rural Georgia, especially in the midst of the pandemic,” said Dangar.