EIG and Fluxys are buying the largest liquefied natural gas regasification terminal in Chile from Enagas Chile and OMERS Infrastructure.
OMERS Infrastructure and Enagás have agreed to sell their combined 80% interest in GNL Quintero (GNLQ) to the EIG and Fluxys consortium for an undisclosed sum.
OMERS Infrastructure said it will be selling 100% of OMERS Infrastructure Chile Holdings I SpA, which owns a 34.6% stake in GNLQ.
GNLQ is a leading terminal located in the Valparaiso Region, that is responsible for the reception, unloading, storage and regasification of liquified natural gas. GNLQ facilitates the provision of energy to households, commercial and industrial customers, power plants and other users located in central Chile, including Santiago.
Gisele Everett, senior managing director, Americas, OMERS Infrastructure, said: “We have been an active investor in GNLQ since 2017, and have been privileged to have worked alongside our shareholding partners and GNLQ’s experienced management team.
“During our ownership period, GNLQ has delivered reliable operational performance, ensuring energy security to its direct and end-user customers.”
OMERS Infrastructure said it will redeploy the proceeds to continue to grow its portfolio in its focus markets and across its five priority investment themes – energy transition, mobility, connectivity, community and natural systems.
The acquisition builds on EIG’s presence in the Chilean market, where the firm owns the Cerro Dominador photovoltaic plant. The infrastructure investor is also a partner in AME, a Chile-based project developer and independent power producer.
R Blair Thomas, EIG’s chairman and CEO, said: “We are pleased to be partnering again with Fluxys, a world- class operational partner, to help Quintero support Chile’s energy needs and transition goals with reliable energy.
“Quintero’s strong presence in natural gas infrastructure serves as an attractive launching point to expand its presence in related and adjacent sectors, including storage, truck loading and regasification, as well as to develop production capacity for green hydrogen, where Quintero has significant potential to be a domestic leader in the nascent industry.”
For Belgium-based energy infrastructure firm Fluxys, the partnership creates a foothold in another country in Latin America.
Pascal De Buck, Fluxys’ managing director and CEO, said: “With 3 LNG terminals in Europe, our ambition to invest outside Europe and to become the transporter of new energy carriers, Quintero is a perfect fit with our strategy for growth in view of the low carbon future.
“We want to deploy and expand our industrial expertise worldwide and are excited to partner with EIG as leading global energy infrastructure investor already intensively involved in energy transition projects in Chile.”
De Buck said the partnership in Quintero brings Fluxys closer to hydrogen developments in Chile and supports the import of hydrogen in Belgium.
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