GCM Grosvenor, a global alternative asset management firm, has closed on an agreement to provide $85 million in debt financing to Bakersfield Renewable Fuels (BKRF) to help retool the former Alon oil refinery in Bakersfield, Calif. GCM Grosvenor joins Orion Energy Partners and Voya Investment Management in providing a total of $365 million in capital to BKRF.
BKRF’s retooling of the facility is expected to take 18 to 20 months, with the primary work being conducted by union trades through a local Bakersfield engineering, procurement and construction contractor.
BKRF is a special-purpose vehicle wholly owned by Global Clean Energy Holdings (GCE), which was created to purchase the existing Alon refinery. BKRF will retool a portion of the refinery into a renewable diesel (RD) bio-refinery that relies on GCE’s proprietary camelina oil as well as traditional biofuel feedstocks such as waste fats, oils and greases to produce RD and other renewable products.
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