Golar LNG has revealed more details of the formation of its LNG carrier spin-off Cool Company (CoolCo).
A deal for CoolCo to buy Tor Olav Troim-backed Golar's eight tri-fuel diesel electric-powered ships was agreed in December with Idan Ofer's Eastern Pacific Shipping.
CoolCo will have an initial market capitalisation of $375m, Golar said.
Eastern Pacific will take a minimum of $150m of this, or 40%, by taking part in a $250m private share placement, making it the largest shareholder.
Golar is retaining a stake of at least $125m, or 33%.
The formation of the company will be completed in the first quarter, but it will list immediately on the Oslo over-the-counter exchange following the placement.
CoolCo then expects to list on Oslo's Euronext Growth board next month.
The company is also targeting a second listing on a large overseas exchange this year.
Six ships refinanced
The new operation has signed a term sheet with banks for a sustainability-linked $570m loan to finance the acquisition of six of its ships.
Existing leases that finance the other two will be transferred to CoolCo.
Total debt will therefore stand at $810m at inception.
In addition, a $5m deal has been agreed for CoolCo to acquire the commercial and technical management of Golar's owned and operated shipping and FSRU assets.
The new company's fleet will comprise entirely of ships under 10 years old and valued at $1.2bn, according to VesselsValue.
The carriers are all flagged in the Marshall Islands and range from 160,000 cbm to 162,000 cbm in capacity.
Fearnley Securities estimated $837m of debt related to the CoolCo vessels at the time the deal was announced last month.
This gave a net asset value of $323m, excluding working capital adjustments.
"Golar intends to retain a third of CoolCo, which leaves circa $65m [of] new equity to be raised further down the road," the investment bank said.
"On this basis, Golar could free up $215m from the spin-off," Fearnleys added.
