SAFFA invests up to $30 million in SAF One project starting construction this year

SAFFA Fund I LP, an investment fund managed by Burnham Sterling Asset Management LLC with an objective to accelerate the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and SAF One Energy Management Ltd., a platform for sustainable aviation solutions, announced Jan. 16 an investment of up to $30 million, $10 million of which has already been funded, by SAFFA in a project by SAF One expected to break ground this year and produce SAF by late 2028. 

SAF One, which has been developing a pipeline of SAF projects over the past several years, has achieved critical milestones on a project in the Middle East and plans to begin construction there in 2026.  

Under the terms of the investment, SAFFA could scale its investment over time as the project progresses and SAF production is offered to the aviation industry. 

“Scaling SAF globally requires collaboration across the ecosystem and SAF One is an ideal partner that has made excellent progress on its project in the Middle East,” said Michael Dickey Morgan, BSAM’s executive managing director of BSAM. “We look forward to SAF One project becoming a key supplier of SAF for the global aviation industry.” 

Mounir Kuzbari, co-founder and executive chair of SAF One, added, “SAF One is delighted to partner with SAFFA and its stakeholders in the funding of our first project that we believe will be the first to deliver SAF out of the Middle East region.”  

Deepak Munganahalli, co-founder and CEO of SAF One, said, “SAF One’s mission is to deliver customized solutions to its aviation industry customers, recognizing that customer adoption and support is critical to scaling SAF production globally.”  

SAFFA is an investment fund in which Airbus, Air France-KLM Group, Associated Energy Group, BNP Paribas, Burnham Sterling, CMA-CGM, Mitsubishi HC Capital and Qantas Airways Limited co-invested to accelerate the production of SAF.  

The corporate partners worked with investment manager BSAM to establish SAFFA.  

The commitment from the eight partners amounts to an aggregate of approximately $208 million.