Golar LNG Partners LP
Q4 2020 Earnings Call Transcript

Published:

  • Operator:
    Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Golar LNG Partners LP Fourth Quarter 2020 results. . I must advise you that this conference is being recorded today, Thursday, 25th of February 2021. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Mr. Karl Staubo, CEO, Golar LNG. Thank you. Please go ahead, sir.
  • Karl Staubo:
    Thanks, operator. Welcome to the Golar LNG Partners Q4 Earnings Call. Thank you for taking the time to dial in. Before we get into the quarterly results, please note the forward-looking statements on Slide 2. Turning to Slide 3 and recent highlights. We announced that we have entered into a merger agreement and plan of merger with New Fortress Energy, whereby New Fortress will acquire all of the partnerships outstanding common and general partner units for a price of $3.55 per unit.
  • Operator:
    . And your first question comes from the line of Randy Giveans from Jefferies.
  • Randall Giveans:
    Not a ton of questions, I guess. One, in terms of the merger closing, right? You say first half of '21. Can you give us a little more guidance? Is that March, is it April, is it June, right? And then what are these kind of last few hurdles now that you already have the shareholder vote?
  • Karl Staubo:
    That's a good question. So I think we've guided the market that we want to do this within first half '21, both GMLP and NFE is keen to close the transaction as early as possible. The key items that we need to address is that NFE intends to keep the debt on Hilli. So we need a change of control consent there, and we're in the process of securing that. And we also need to have certain regulatory approvals, which is customary for these type of transactions. We do not expect any negative surprises in obtaining such approvals, but it's just a process we need to go through. And giving exact timing of when we expect to close is outside of our control because it depends on when we can get feedback from these merger controls. But our target is to do it as close in time as overall possible, and we would expect that to be - I don't think we want to give a very specific guiding, but we're targeting the earlier part of Q2.
  • Randall Giveans:
    Got it. Earlier part of Q2, so maybe April. And then have you heard from .
  • Karl Staubo:
    Randy? We lost you there. Okay. Operator, I think we can take the next question.
  • Operator:
    . We now have our second question, comes from the line of Liam Burke from B. Riley.
  • Liam Burke:
    On the preferred, they'll stay outstanding and trade normally?
  • Karl Staubo:
    Sure. Yes. So NFE intends to keep GMLP as a subsidiary of MLP - sorry of NFE, and they want to keep the preferred equity outstanding. Those preferred can be called from October 22, and they have not given any signals whether they want to keep it or take them out at that point in time. But in the interim, they will remain outstanding and trading as they are today.
  • Operator:
    Your next question comes from the line of Randy Giveans from Jefferies.
  • Randall Giveans:
    One more question. In terms of the Spirit and the Mazo, obviously, those are in layup now. NFE is buying everything. Are their thoughts around bringing those out of the layup?
  • Karl Staubo:
    So obviously, that needs to be a question for NFE to answer. But I think what we said on the previous call is that they, obviously, have a portfolio of growth projects. And if you combine that with Hygo as well, there is certainly an internal need for terminals needing of FSRU's. So on the balance, I would say that it's probably more likely that they reactivate - or even more likely that they are reactivated now than previous. But whether or not it will happen and when it will potentially happen, I think it's an item for NFE. We're obviously assisting them in doing all of the technical studies required to reactivate, and Golar will continue to operate the fleet technically.
  • Operator:
    . So no further questions that came through, sir, please continue.
  • Karl Staubo:
    Thank you, everyone, for dialing in and your interest in the company. Stay safe, and bye-bye.
  • Operator:
    Thank you. And that does conclude our conference for today. Thank you all for participating. You may all disconnect.

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