GasLog Ltd. and GasLog Partners LP, each an international owner and operator of liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) carriers, today announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which GasLog will acquire all of the outstanding common units of the Partnership not beneficially owned by GasLog, according to the company's release.
GasLog will acquire the outstanding common units of the Partnership not beneficially owned by GasLog for overall consideration of $8.65 per common unit in cash, consisting in part of a special distribution by the Partnership of $3.28 per common unit in cash that will be distributed to the Partnership’s unitholders in connection with the closing of the Transaction and the remainder to be paid by GasLog as merger consideration at the closing of the Transaction. The overall consideration of $8.65 per common unit represents a 24% premium to the closing price of the Partnership’s common units on January 24, 2023, the last trading day prior to the public disclosure of GasLog’s initial offer, and a 31% premium to the volume weighted average price of the Partnership’s common units over the 30 calendar days prior to January 24, 2023.
The conflicts committee of the Board of Directors of the Partnership, comprised solely of independent directors advised by its own independent legal and financial advisors, unanimously recommended that the Partnership Board approve the merger agreement and determined that the Transaction was in the best interests of the Partnership and the holders of its common units unaffiliated with GasLog. Acting upon the recommendation of the Conflicts Committee, the Partnership Board unanimously approved the merger agreement and the Transaction and recommended that the common unitholders of the Partnership vote in favor of the transaction.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2023, subject to approval of the Transaction by holders of a majority of the common units of the Partnership and the satisfaction of certain customary closing conditions. GasLog owns 30.2% of the common units of the Partnership and has entered into a support agreement with the Partnership committing to vote its common units in favor of the merger.
GasLog Partners is an owner, operator and acquirer of LNG carriers. The Partnership’s fleet consists of eleven wholly-owned LNG carriers as well as three vessels on bareboat charters, with an average carrying capacity of approximately 159,000 cbm.
GasLog is an international owner, operator and manager of LNG carriers providing support to international energy companies as part of their LNG logistics chain. GasLog’s consolidated fleet consists of 38 LNG carriers (33 on the water, four under construction and one vessel undergoing conversion into a floating storage and regasification unit, or “FSRU”). Of these vessels, 18 are owned by GasLog, six have been sold and leased back by GasLog under long-term bareboat charters and of the remaining 14 LNG carriers, eleven are owned by the Company’s subsidiary, GasLog Partners LP, and three have been sold and leased back by GasLog Partners LP.