Ocean Yield, a ship-owning firm owned by KKR, is acquiring CapeOmega Gas Transportation from Partners Group for an unspecified sum.
CapeOmega co-owns ten liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers operated by Knutsen LNG.
Partners Group paid around €1.2bn to acquire CapeOmega from HitecVision in 2019.
Ocean Yield said the transaction will add around $120m (€102.7m) to its adjusted EBITDA backlog, adding that KKR is also expected to inject additional equity into Ocean Yield to support its balance sheet and further growth.
Andreas Røde, CEO at Ocean Yield, said: “We are pleased to co-invest with KKR in this transaction, which provides attractive exposure to modern LNG carriers, all employed on long-term charters to investment-grade-rated counterparties.”
Esther Peiner, partner, head of infrastructure at Partners Group, said: “We have been on a transformational journey with CapeOmega. In just a handful of years, we have completed a full strategic pivot for the company, divesting a successful energy infrastructure operations business and building a next generation low carbon maritime platform from scratch.
“CapeOmega’s fleet of LNG vessels is well positioned to make a meaningful contribution to the energy transition for many years to come.”
Igor Makar, member of management, infrastructure Europe, Partners Group, said: “Through our thematic research, we identified that increasing demand for cleaner energy sources, as well as concerns around energy supply security, were creating very favourable LNG and LNG shipping market dynamics.
“We quickly capitalised on this by partnering with a leading industry operator and installing a highly competent management team with deep execution experience across maritime and energy transition initiatives.”
Evy Glørstad, CEO of CapeOmega, said: “In the last few years, we have evolved from the largest private infrastructure owner on the Norwegian Continental Shelf into a leading global provider of state-of-the-art, fuel-efficient LNG transport.
“I would like to thank our team, Partners Group, and our co-shareholder, Knutsen, for their collaboration and partnership in building this platform.”
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