Golar LNG Partners LP will acquire the ownership interests in Tundra Corp., which has commercial control of and operates the Golar Tundra floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), from Golar LNG Ltd., the company said Feb. 10.
The purchase price is about $330 million, and there are about $230 million in net lease obligations under the bank financing for the vessel.
Hamilton, Bermuda-based Golar LNG Partners paid a roughly-10% deposit to Golar LNG Ltd., and said that the acquisition is scheduled to close in March.
The Golar Tundra was built by Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. and was delivered to Golar in November 2015. The vessel has a time charter with West Africa Gas Ltd. (WAGL) for an initial term of five years.
The joint venture that owns WAGL- subsidiaries of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. and Sahara Energy Resource Ltd.- is developing an LNG import project at the port of Tema on the coast of Ghana.
The FSRU will be moored inside the port at a new jetty being built by WAGL, and will begin operations under the time charter in second-quarter 2016.
Golar LNG Partners will enter a new, five-year, $800 million senior secured credit facility before the transaction closes. The facility- a $650 million term loan facility and a $150 million revolving credit facility- will replace the existing credit facilities that are secured by seven vessels in the partnership's fleet.
Revolving credit facility borrowings will fund the remaining $70 million cash purchase price for the Golar Tundra. About $380 million of debts will then mature in 2021 instead of from 2018.
Golar LNG Partners will receive a daily fee plus operating expenses, about $2.6 million per month, for the right to use the FSRU from the date of the closing until the date that it begins operations under the time charter.
The Golar Tundra acquisition will increase revenue backlog to a total of $2.62 billion.
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