New LNG shipping firm CoolCo, formed by Tor Olav Troim-led Golar LNG and Idan Ofer’s Eastern Pacific Shipping, has appointed Richard Tyrrell as its chief executive officer.
Tyrrell joins CoolCo from floating player Hoegh LNG where he held several senior positions including chief development officer and CEO of Hoegh LNG Partners.
Besides Tyrrell, CoolCo appointed Johannes (John) Boots as chief financial officer, and Sarah Choudhry as general counsel, EPS said in a statement on Thursday.
Boots previously served as CFO of Pacific Drilling, while Choudhry spent the past three years as legal counsel for EPS, the largest shareholder of CoolCo with a 38 percent stake.
Golar owns 31 percent in the LNG shipping venture and public investors hold the rest.
New management to join CoolCo in Q2
Currently, Golar’s chief executive Karl Fredrik Staubo serves as the interim CEO of CoolCo while Eduardo Maranhao is the interim CFO. The two executives helped during the formation and launch of CoolCo.
The new management team would join CoolCo during the second quarter of this year, allowing a “smooth management transition” and would operate from the company’s London offices, the statement said.
“After a thorough search, we concluded that these experienced professionals would form the ideal team to lead CoolCo,” Cyril Ducau, chairman of CoolCo and CEO of EPS, said.
“With a strong shareholder base, a favourable LNG market, and an experienced management team, CoolCo is poised to deliver exceptional shareholder value in the short and long term,” he said.
Tyrrel said CoolCo was an “exciting opportunity to build a market leader in LNG shipping.”
“The combination of the newly announced team with first-class professionals joining from Golar further positions the company to benefit from strengthened LNG freight fundamentals,” he said.
Eight LNG carriers
CoolCo has completed the purchase of four LNG carriers from Golar as part of the deal between Golar and EPS revealed in December last year.
The firm expects to complete the transfers of title to the shares in the remaining four vessel subsidiaries of Golar in “the short term,” it said in a statement earlier this month.
The firm financed the acquisition by concluding a $570 million senior secured bank facility and the raising of $275 million in gross proceeds in a private placement of new shares.
