Besicorp-Empire Newsprint, LLC Appoints Lead Bank for Newsprint Project Financing.

KINGSTON, N.Y. -- Besicorp-Empire Newsprint, LLC ("BENCO") announced today the appointment of HSH Nordbank AG, New York Branch, as lead arranger for financing of its Recycled Newsprint Facility project ("the Project") located in the City of Rensselaer, New York. The Project will process old newspapers and old magazines and manufacture finished recycled newsprint for sale to publishers and printers primarily in the New England and Mid-Atlantic region.

HSH Nordbank, headquartered in Germany, is one of the leading financial institutions in Northern Europe with assets of approximately EUR 170 billion and approximately 4,500 employees worldwide, and is the result of the 2003 merger of LB Kiel and Hamburgische Landesbank. As lead arranger, HSH Nordbank will assist in structuring the project financing, and will assemble a group of underwriters and lenders to finance the project.

The Project is targeting the first half of 2005 to achieve a financial close and to commence construction, which will take approximately 2 years. The Project is now fully permitted after almost 5 years of development effort. Detailed engineering and selection of major equipment vendors is nearing completion. The Project is being engineered and constructed by KSH Solutions, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of RWE Industrie-Losungen GmbH ("RWE"), a major international company headquartered in Germany.

Thomas Emmons, Senior Vice President of HSH Nordbank, states "HSH Nordbank is pleased to have been selected to lead the financing of this well-structured Project. As a low cost producer located in the heart of the largest newspaper consumption and recycling market in the world, we believe that the project will be able to sell its full output under contract and generate ample cashflow for its lenders and investors."

Michael Zinn, Besicorp owner and principal investor in the Project, states "This engagement represents an important step in a complex financing process. With the continued support of Morgan Stanley, Bond Schoeneck & King, RWE, Jaakko Poyry, White & Case, and other major companies that have assisted us to bring the Project to this advanced state of development, we are now looking forward to completing the financing process and getting this Project into construction. We are excited about bringing the most up-to-date technology in the world into this region and community, which will benefit from the jobs and tax base that it brings."

Besicorp-Empire Newsprint , LLC is an affiliate of Besicorp Development, Inc., a Kingston, New York company that specializes in the development of environmentally sound industrial and power projects. Besicorp has been developing energy related businesses in New York State for almost 30 years.

For additional information, please contact us at [phone] or visit the company's web site at www.besicorp.com.