Bain Capital Private Equity said on Thursday it has completed a deal to acquire a stake in renewable fuel producer EcoCeres Inc, as the Boston-based investor strives to ramp up its sustainable investment.

Bain said in response to a Reuters query that the firm invested $400 million of growth capital for a significant stake in the company, marking one of the its largest transactions in Asia related to ESG issues.

After the transaction, EcoCeres would be mutually controlled by Bain Capital and Hong Kong & China Gas, rather than being solely controlled by the latter as previously, according to a filing about the transaction published on the website of China’s State Administration for Market Regulation in November.

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EcoCeres had raised a total of $108 million from Kerogen Capital last February and in December 2021, according to an HKCG filing last year.

EcoCeres’ products include a type of biodiesel made from waste greases such as palm oil mill wastewater and used cooking oil, according to its website.

The new funding will be used to build EcoCeres’ facilities in Malaysia to serve international clients and boost total output capacity, according to Bain.

EcoCeres’ main businesses include a biofuel plant in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu, and two projects of agricultural waste utilization in Hebei province in the northern part of China, its website said.

Source: Bain Capital