Reno renewable diesel project works out deal with Twain to complete construction

New Rise Renewables Reno LLC, formerly known as Ryze Renewables, has entered into a ground sale and leaseback arrangement with Twain Financial Partners in order to secure the capital needed to complete construction of its renewable diesel project in Reno, Nevada, scaled at approximately 43 million gallons per year.

In December, Biobased Diesel Daily shared that Viking Energy Group Inc. out of Houston, Texas, planned to purchase the project. Will Purdy, Twain Financial Partners’ director of real estate, confirmed that the sale to Viking Energy Group did not go through. Viking Energy Group did not respond to requests for information by publication time.

As explained by Purdy, Twain purchased the land beneath the facility from New Rise Renewables Reno for $136 million, and the land is being leased back to the company over a 99-year period.

“Our product is unique compared to conventional ground-lease offerings,” Purdy said. “They can buy the land back within a few years. That’s extremely unique,” he added, saying it functions more like a flexible bridge loan.

The $136 million in proceeds New Rise Renewables Reno gains from the land sale will be used to complete the latest phase of construction on the $300 million facility, which will include feedstock pretreatment and wastewater treatment facilities, and an energy-recovery system.

The plant is expected to be completed by November, according to Twain Financial Partners.

The investment by Twain is its largest in the financial firm’s nine-year history.

“We’re hoping to do more of these,” Purdy told Biobased Diesel Daily.