Blackstone completes $7 billion Cheniere partnership stake sale

Blackstone Group said on Thursday it has completed the sale of its 42% stake in Cheniere’s limited partnership to Brookfield Infrastructure and its own affiliated company.

The $7 billion sale represents the culmination of Blackstone Energy Partners’ involvement with Cheniere, the US-based private equity firm said.

Cheniere formed the partnership to develop the $25 billion Sabine Pass terminal, currently the largest US LNG export facility.

In 2012, Blackstone Energy invested $1.5 billion in Cheniere Energy Partners to build the first two Sabine Pass trains.

Cheniere’s partnership now operates five trains at the 30 mtpa facility in Louisiana and is building a sixth.

Cheniere’s CEO Jack Fusco said the firm had a “collaborative and mutually beneficial partnership” with Blackstone Energy.

Today, after eight years, Sabine Pass is providing “flexible, reliable, and cost competitive” US LNG to markets worldwide, he said.

“We still have much to accomplish at Cheniere, and I look forward to working alongside Blackstone Infrastructure Partners and Brookfield Infrastructure Management to achieve our shared goals,” Fusco added.

Sean Klimczak, global head of Blackstone Infrastructure said Cheniere benefits from long-term contracted revenues across a diverse set of investment-grade counterparties.

This leads to generating “stable and growing cash flows we seek to add to our infrastructure investment portfolio,” Klimczak said.

“Our team is excited to partner with Brookfield to invest in this large-scale, high quality infrastructure company,” he added.