Floating regasification specialist Excelerate Energy has raised $384m as it moves forward with its US initial public offering.
The Houston-based company, which has been privately owned by US oil and gas magnate George Kaiser since it was founded in 2003, sold 16m shares priced at $24m each.
Launching its IPO a week earlier, Excelerate had indicated its shares would be priced in the $21 to $24 range.
Excelerate also gave its underwriters a 30-day option to buy a further 2.4 million shares at the IPO.
The shares are expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange today under the ticker symbol “EE”.
Excelerate said it expects to receive net proceeds of approximately $361.9m, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and excluding any exercise of the underwriters' option to purchase additional shares.
The company said the offering is expected to close on 18 April.
Kaiser will indirectly hold a majority of Excelerate after the offering, through the ownership of majority shareholder EE Holdings' Class B common stock.
Barclays, J.P. Morgan, and Morgan Stanley are serving as joint lead book-running managers for the offering.
Excelerate made its IPO filing on 10 January.
But while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may have deterred other companies from proceeding with their planning listings, Excelerate’s floating regasification and storage units are in demand as European gas buyers look for fast track import solutions as they try to move away from Russian gas.
Excelerate flagged this up in its prospectus saying it is seeing an increase in inquiries for its “FSRU and integrated terminal service” from countries historically dependent on Russian gas imports.
“Although these discussions are in early stages, we are optimistic that there could be increased opportunities to serve the European market,” it said.
Excelerate owns 10 FSRUs. It has said it plans to use cash used to fund its growth strategy including its projects in projects in Brazil, Albania, the Philippines and Bangladesh, to fund the purchase of two of its vessels and company reorganisation.
The company also plans to expand into LNG-to-power projects and smaller-scale natural gas distribution solutions.
