White & Case advises international lenders on US$1.5 billion Acelen SAF biorefinery project

Global law firm White & Case LLP has advised a consortium of international lenders on the project financing of Acelen's landmark greenfield biodiesel project in Brazil, one of the first large-scale facilities in Latin America dedicated to producing both sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel. The biorefinery is expected to begin operations in 2029 and will be among the largest facilities of its kind in Latin America, using diversified feedstocks to broaden the region's aviation fuel mix and support more resilient aviation fuel supply chains.

The consortium of international lenders includes the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Inter-American Investment Corporation (IDB Invest), Development Finance Institute Canada Inc. (FinDev Canada); Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES); Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB); Bank of China Limited, Grand Cayman Branch; Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. (BBVA); KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH (KfW); First Abu Dhabi Bank; Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank; HSBC Bank USA N.A. (HSBC); and Banco Bradesco S.A. (Bradesco).

Acelen, an energy company controlled by Mubadala Investment Company, expects the biorefinery to produce up to 1 billion liters per year of SAF and renewable diesel. The project covers the development, construction and operation of a new industrial facility adjacent to the existing Refinaria de Mataripe. As part of the project, Acelen plans to cultivate 144,000 hectares of degraded land, with 20 percent of that volume allocated to partnerships with family farms and small producers.

The transaction was led by White & Case partners Martin Menski (Washington, DC) and John Anderson (São Paulo).

The agents were led by partner Armando Rivera Jacobo (Washington, DC) and the hedges were led by partner Ian Cuillerier (New York).

The transaction also included support from partners Sherief Rashed (Dubai), local partners Prema Govind-Hitti (Dubai) and Ryan Gawrych (Hamburg); and associates Caroline McDonald (Houston), Margaret Zelenski, Ijeoma Oti, Zeina Traboulsi, Manny Nimarko, Raquel Szomstein (all in Washington, DC), Rodrigo Vieira and Andre Felipe Salles Cristofaro (both in São Paulo), Elle Cotzomi, Gahyun Kim and Natasha Dusaj (all in New York), and Hussain Ali (Dubai). Law clerk Joss Cary (London) also assisted on the matter.

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