GasLog Partners Buys Methane Sisters

NYSE-listed GasLog Partners LP has agreed to purchase from GasLog Ltd. 100% of the shares in the entities that own and charter three liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers for USD 483 million.

The three carriers are the Methane Alison Victoria, Methane Shirley Elisabeth and Methane Heather Sally. All three carriers were built in 2007, and have a capacity of 145,000 cubic meters each.

The deal is subject to GasLog Partners obtaining the funds necessary to pay the purchase price, expected to be financed with a combination of equity and the assumption of the vessels’ existing credit facilities.

GasLog acquired the Methane Alison Victoria, Methane Shirley Elisabeth and Methane Heather Sally from an affiliate of BG Group (BG) in June 2014.

GasLog supervised the construction of each ship and has provided technical management for the ships since delivery.

The vessels are currently operating under long-term time charters with BG with terms of 4.5 years, 5 years and 5.5 years remaining, respectively. BG has the option to extend two of the three charters for an additional period of either three or five years following the initial charter period.

GasLog Partners estimates that the carriers will annually generate around USD 72 million of incremental contracted revenue over their initial charter terms, assuming full utilization, and approximately USD 50.8 million of estimated EBITDA for the first 12 months after the closing of the purchase agreement.

”I am very pleased to be announcing our second accretive dropdown acquisition since our IPO in 2014. The addition of these three vessels will significantly increase the size of the GasLog Partners’ fleet from five to eight vessels, increasing the scale and equity free float of the Partnership, which we believe will enhance the trading liquidity in the Partnership’s units,” said Andy Orekar, Chief Executive Officer of GasLog Partners.

”Following this transaction, GasLog Partners continues to have an identified dropdown pipeline of twelve additional vessels at GasLog, providing a highly visible path to sustainable growth. We believe GasLog Partners is well positioned to execute our strategy and continue growing cash distributions for our unitholders at a 10-15% CAGR from the IPO for the next several years.”