Golar LNG now has only one share in CoolCo after it sold shares worth about $56 million in the LNG carrier operator to EPS.
CoolCo said on Tuesday that Golar LNG, a close associate of Hong Yoon, member of its board, has sold 4,463,845 shares in the company at a price of 130 Norwegian krone per share.
This equals to about 580.2 million Norwegian krone ($56 million).
Following the transaction, Golar LNG holds one share and vote in CoolCo, the latter said.
Singapore’s EPS, led by Idan Ofer, and Tor Olav Trøim’s Golar LNG, completed the formation of CoolCo last year.
Prior to this transaction, Golar LNG had about 8.3 percent of CoolCo shares, EPS had about 49.9 percent of shares, while public investors hold the rest of the shares in the firm.
Golar LNG said in its 2022 results report on Tuesday that it has exited CoolCo investment.
The firm said it has sold 8 million shares in the fourth quarter raising net proceeds of $98 million, and a further 4.5 million shares on February 28, 2023 that are expected to raise net proceeds of around $56 million.
EPS bought the shares
CoolCo said in a separate announcement later on Tuesday that EPS Ventures, a close associate of Cyril Ducau, chair of its board, purchased these shares.
Following the transaction, EPS Ventures holds a total of 31,254,390 shares in CoolCo, equivalent to 58.21 percent of the company’s shares.
CoolCo previously bought nine LNG carriers from Golar LNG, four from EPS, and is working to exercise the previously announced option for two newbuild LNG carriers which are currently under construction at South Korea’s Hyundai Samho.
(Article updated to add more information regarding the sale.)