CoolCo completes all LNG carrier acquisitions from Golar LNG

The newly formed shipping company CoolCo has now completed all eight acquisitions of LNG carriers from Bermuda-based shipper Golar LNG.

On 6 April, Cool Company said that it completed the last two acquisitions of eight modern LNG tankers from Golar LNG. The parties defined the terms of these acquisitions in the share purchase agreement from 26 February.

The last two LNG carriers are Golar Ice and Golar Kelvin.

These completions covered all of the shares in Golar Hull M2048 and Golar LNG NB11 single-purpose companies, which are the owners of the LNG tankers.

In acquiring the two companies, CoolCo accepted that their existing lease financing arrangement will continue, supplemented by a new parent guarantee from CoolCo.

CoolCo paid for the shares in the subsidiaries in cash and by the issue of 3,125,000 new common shares of $1.00 par value in CoolCo to Golar. These new shares have been fully paid and are validly issued under Bermuda law.

Following the issue, CoolCo has a paid in share capital of $40,010,000 represented by 40,010,000 common shares each of which represents one vote in the company’s general meeting.

Golar now owns 12,510,000 shares in the company, representing 31.2 per cent of all shares in issue.

Furthermore, CoolCo and Golar completed the transfer of all of the shares in Cool Pool Limited from Golar to CoolCo. The Cool Pool Limited is the company responsible for the marketing of the LNG tankers that CoolCo bought.

CoolCo and Golar will finish the overall transaction by transferring the organisation responsible for the technical and commercial operation of the LNG tankers from Golar to CoolCo. This is expected to be concluded by the second quarter of 2022.

Interim CEO Karl Fredrik Staubo said: “Completion of these final two vessel transfers coincides with an improving chartering environment. The market strengthening is driven by increased focus on energy security, low gas storage levels, new environmental regulations effective from 2023 disadvantaging less fuel-efficient tonnage, and rising yard prices for new orders with lead times into 2026.”

In addition, he said that CoolCo recently chartered a vessel for 12 months. It has done so at a rate of around $120,000 per day. This is 20 per cent higher than the last 12-month charter for a CoolCo vessel in October 2021 and twice the actual rate the vessel earned on its prior 12-month charter.

“We are also seeing increased interest for multi-year charters driving stronger earnings and dividend potential.”

Golar, which decided to separate its eight TFDE LNGCs into a new company, retained approximately one-third of CoolCo. Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) is the largest shareholder of the company.

CoolCo now owns the following LNGCs: Golar Crystal, Golar Frost, Golar Seal, Golar Bear, Golar Snow, Golar Glacier, Golar Ice and Golar Kelvin.