Germany-based energy company Uniper announced that it has signed an agreement with First State Investments to divest its stake in OLT Offshore LNG Toscana.
Image: Uniper holds 48.2% stake in OLT Photo: Courtesy of rawpixel/Pixabay.
Uniper holds 48.2% stake in OLT along with Italy-based IREN Group, which holds a 49.1% stake, and Golar LNG, holding a 2.7% stake.
First State Investments will acquire Uniper’s entire OLT stake for a purchase price of approximately €400m, which will be adjusted at the transaction closing for any distributions already made to Uniper in 2018 and 2019.
The company is expected to receive the net proceeds of approximately €340m at the closing of the transaction, which will take place later this year.
The closing of the transaction is subject to the approval of the competent authorities as well as other customary conditions.
Currently, OLT operates FSRU Toscana, a floating storage and regasification unit, which is moored about 22kms from the Tuscan coast between Pisa and Livorno and has a maximum authorized regasification capacity of 3.75 billion cubic meters per year.
Uniper COO Eckhardt Rümmler said: “We’re pleased to divest our stake in OLT Offshore LNG Toscana to an experienced gas infrastructure investor like First State Investments. We’ve always said that selected existing gas infrastructure investments which we consider as strategic non-core assets may be suitable for portfolio rotation.
“That means that we would reinvest the sale proceeds in our growth businesses that generate attractive returns. The agreement on the sale is another example of how we’re systematically implementing our strategy.”
Uniper clams that it is active in developing LNG infrastructure in Europe and in procuring and trading LNG worldwide. OLT is a regulated asset and being a shareholder of OLT offers no advantages to the company for expanding and optimizing its own LNG portfolio.
In December 2018, Uniper partnered with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) for a floating storage and regasification project (FSRU terminal) at the MOL’s location in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
The FSRU terminal has a planned send-out capacity of 10 bcm/a and LNG storage capacity of 263,000m³, which is expected to enter into operations as early as the second half of 2022.