Neste to buy Bunge's oil, fat processing plant in Rotterdam for Eur258 million

London — Finnish refiner and renewable diesel producer Neste has agreed to buy Bunge Loders Croklaan's vegetable oil processing plant in Rotterdam to boost its biofuel feedstock capacity, the company said Nov. 3.

The Bunge facility, located next to Neste's existing Rotterdam biorefinery, consists of a pretreatment facility for plant-based oils and fats, a tank farm, jetties and has a pipeline connection to Neste's nearby biodiesel site.

Under the deal, Bunge will lease back the facility from Neste in a phased transition through 2024 so that it can continue to supply its customers with its products.

Neste has agreed to pay Eur258 million ($301 million) in cash for the plant, excluding working capital.

"The acquisition of the refinery plant supports our global growth strategy in renewables," Neste's CEO Peter Vanacker said in statement. "It allows us to accelerate the scaling up of our renewable raw material pretreatment capacity, which is an important driver for expanding the use of waste and residue feedstocks and increasing our feedstock flexibility."

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021, subject to regulatory approvals.

Neste is one of the largest producers of renewable diesel in the world and increased its capacity of the fuel to 3 million mt in 2019 from 2.7 million mt, with production sites in Porvoo, Finland, Singapore and Rotterdam. In 2019, 80% of its renewable diesel was made from wastes and residues.