Woodside has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all issued and outstanding common stock of Tellurian including its owned and operated US Gulf Coast Driftwood LNG development opportunity.
The consideration for the transaction is an all-cash payment of approximately $900m, or $1.00 per share of outstanding Tellurian common stock. The implied enterprise value is approximately $1.2bn.
This represents an attractive entry into an opportunity with more than $1 billion of expenditure incurred to date, according to Woodside.
“The acquisition of Tellurian and its Driftwood LNG development opportunity positions Woodside to be a global LNG powerhouse,” said Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill. “It adds a scalable US LNG development opportunity to our existing approximately 10 Mtpa of equity LNG in Australia. Having a complementary US position would allow us to better serve customers globally and capture further marketing optimisation opportunities across both the Atlantic and Pacific Basins.
She added: “The Driftwood LNG development opportunity is competitively advantaged. Woodside expects to leverage its global LNG expertise to unlock this fully permitted development and expand our relationship with Bechtel which is the EPC contractor for both Driftwood LNG and our Pluto Train 2 project in Australia.”
In connection with entry into a binding agreement to acquire Tellurian, Woodside will provide a loan to Tellurian of up to $230m to ensure Driftwood LNG site activity and de-risking activities maintain momentum prior to completion of the transaction. The loan is secured by a first priority lien over the borrower’s assets subject to customary exclusions. The latest maturity date for the loan is 15 December 2024 or the date of transaction completion.
Woodside’s sole financial adviser is PJT Partners and its legal adviser is Norton Rose Fulbright
