Global law firm Clifford Chance has advised Acelen Renewables, a renewable energy company of Mubadala Capital, on the offtake and feedstock structuring and contracting for its US$3 billion renewable fuel project in Brazil. The biorefinery facility will be Brazil’s first dedicated SAF and HVO plant and one of the largest SAF facilities in the world.
The plant will have the capacity to produce 1 billion liters of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel (HVO) per year utilizing hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) technology. Approximately 90% of the SAF and HVO commercialization volumes have already been structured and contracted, including with Trafigura, Moeve, Bunge, BGN and others.
Acelen Renewables has secured US$1.5 billion of financing to initiate construction of the biorefinery. The financing is provided by a consortium led by HSBC and International Finance Corporation, which brings together ten national and international financial institutions, including First Abu Dhabi Bank, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, IDB Invest, BNDES, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Development Finance Institute Canada, KfW IPEX-Bank, Bradesco, BBVA and Bank of China. Clifford Chance supported on the financing in respect of advising on bankability of the offtake and feedstock contracts.
The facility will be located in the state of Bahia, Brazil and is scheduled to be operational in 2029.
This transaction builds upon Clifford Chance’s SAF and green fuels experience, including advising on first-of-a-kind SAF facilities in North America, Europe, North Africa and South Asia.
The core multijurisdictional Clifford Chance team comprised partners Patrick Jackson (São Paulo) and Jonathan Castelan (Houston), counsel Philip Walsh (Amsterdam) and lead associate Sam Bentley (Houston).
The wider team included partners Marcia Hook (Washington, DC), Ty’Meka Reeves-Sobers (Houston), Todd Lowther (Houston) and Craig Nethercott (Dubai), senior associate Keith Hauck (London), associates Christine Olivo (Houston), Julian Pozza (Houston), Jihyun Lee (New York), Adriana Vélez-León (Washington, DC) and Philine Zambon (Amsterdam), and lawyers Alexandra Demai (Paris) and Jack Foley (London).
