South Korean conglomerate Hanwha has agreed to buy more shares in US LNG firm NextDecade to increase its stake in the developer of the Rio Grande LNG export terminal in Texas.
According to a filling with the US SEC dated June 13, York Capital Management Global Advisors will sell to Hanwha Aerospace and Hanwha Ocean USA International, both units of Hanwha, up to 35,072,737 NextDecade shares.
York Capital entered into secondary block trade agreements with the Hawnha units and the deals remain subject to customary closing conditions, including HSR clearance.
Hanwha Aerospace said in a filling to the stock exchange that it will buy 17,536,368 shares in NextDecade for about 180.3 billion won ($130 million), securing a 6.83 percent stake in NextDecade.
Also, shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean said in a separate stock exchange it will transfer in total 363.3 billion won, or about $260 million, to its unit Hanwha Ocean USA International to invest in paid-in capital increase to secure operating and investment resources.
Combined, the Hanwha units will buy a 13.66 percent stake in NextDecade.
Hanwha’s subsidiary Hanwha Impact already has a 9.07 percent stake in NextDecade via its unit, HGC Next Inv.
With these new deals, Hanwha will increase its stake in NextDecade to about 22.7 percent, making it the largest single shareholder in the US LNG firm.
LNG Prime invited NextDecade to comment on the matter, but we did not receive a reply by the time this article was published.
Deals with Aramco, Adnoc
Last week, Saudi Arabia’s energy behemoth Aramco signed a non-binding deal to buy LNG from NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG export terminal in Texas.
Under the terms of heads of agreement, Aramco expects to buy 1.2 mtpa of LNG for 20 years from the fourth Rio Grande LNG train on a free on board basis, at a price indexed to Henry Hub.
NextDecade also confirmed it is targeting FID for train 4 in the second half of 2024.
This agreement with Aramco followed a deal with UAE’s Adnoc announced on May 10.
Adnoc purchased an 11.7 percent stake in the first phase of NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG export terminal from Global Infrastructure Partners.
Adnoc and NextDecade also entered into a 20-year LNG offtake agreement for the fourth Rio Grande LNG train.
The LNG offtake agreement is for 1.9 mtpa from train 4, on a FOB basis at a price indexed to Henry Hub.
In July last year, NextDecade took the final investment decision on the first three Rio Grande trains and completed $18.4 billion project financing. It awarded the $12 billion EPC contract to Bechtel.
The firm also closed a joint venture agreement for the first phase which included about $5.9 billion of financial commitments from Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), GIC, Mubadala, and TotalEnergies.
Phase 1, with nameplate liquefaction capacity of 17.6 mtpa, has 16.2 mtpa of long-term binding LNG sale and purchase agreements.
These include deals with TotalEnergies, Shell, ENN, Engie, ExxonMobil, Guangdong Energy Group, China Gas Hongda Energy Trading, Galp, and also Itochu.
Including trains 4 and 5, the Rio Grande LNG facility would have a capacity of 27 mtpa.