GasLog drops down Solaris LNG carrier for $185.9m

GasLog Partners said Friday it will buy from its parent company GasLog Ltd. the 155,000-cbm Solaris LNG carrier for a purchase price of $185.9 million.

The New York-listed spinoff expects to finance the acquisition with cash on hand and the assumption of $117 million of Solaris’ existing debt.

The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Solaris is a tri-fuel diesel electric LNG carrier built in 2014. The vessel is currently on a multi-year time charter with a wholly owned subsidiary of LNG giant Shell through June 2021.

“I am very pleased to continue executing our growth strategy with this accretive dropdown transaction. Solaris represents the ninth LNG carrier the partnership will have acquired from GasLog since our IPO, and its multi-year charter to Shell will provide incremental visible cash flows,” said Andy Orekar, Chief Executive of GasLog Partners.

The acquisition will expand the partnership’s fleet to 12 wholly owned LNG carriers and increase the company’s contracted days to about 90% for 2018 and 72% for 2019, added Orekar.