The agreement announced Wednesday was a result of more than 11 months of discussions and cooperation between Bedford’s Business Development and Elfin’s Management. As a result Bedford is closer than ever to producing commercial quantities of Crude Jatropha Oil.

Elfin has been retained by Bedford to pursue the next stage in its international business development. Having already raised significant funds from private and institutional investors in Canada, the introduction of Bedford to the Asian market will advance the capital raising process.

“What this means for Bedford is that our first 10,000-hectare tranche will sell out exponentially faster because of our contract with Elfin,” said David McClure, President and CEO of Bedford. “Then we move onto the next 10,000 hectares and the next. The market in Asia is ready for a product like ours. They believe in alternative energy and are ready to put money into biofuel.”

Carl Huckstep, Managing Director of Elfin, said there is considerable investor demand in Asia for sustainable and exciting business opportunities in Africa.

“In addition to utilizing traditional private equity resources, Elfin is able to structure funds and products that allow access to the retail markets via an extensive offshore network encompassing Asia and the Middle East,” said Huckstep.

Elfin was founded in 2008 by a group of financial professionals with extensive experience in the field of private banking, capital markets, environmental consulting, structured products and distribution. Elfin’s primary focus is raising assets for emerging private companies that operate in or contribute to the “green space.”

Elfin Partners is engaged by select companies to connect them to a proprietary network of institutional investors, banks and private individuals.