AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets has agreed to acquire, on behalf of clients and in joint venture with Crédit Agricole Assurances and Fluxys, a 35.76 percent stake in the Dunkirk LNG regasification terminal, Northern France.
With Fluxys already holding 25 percent in the facility, the company through the consortium will have ~30.39 percent in the capital of the terminal while AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets, on behalf of its clients, and Crédit Agricole Assurances each will hold ~15.19 percent. The vendors are EDF Développement Environnement S.A. (EDF) and Total Gaz Electricité Holding France S.A.S (Total), who between them own a 75 percent stake and have also agreed to sell 39.24 percent to a consortium of Korean investors led by IMP Group.
Commissioned in January 2017, Dunkirk LNG is one of Continental Europe’s largest liquefied natural gas terminals. With an annual regasification capacity of 13 billion cubic meters and storage capacity of 600,000 cubic meters, Dunkirk LNG can meet 20 percent of France and Belgium’s gas demand. The terminal also benefits from flexible access to the United Kingdom and other Northwestern European countries.
Dunkirk LNG’s business is underpinned by long duration underlying earnings with about three-quarters of the terminal’s capacity committed to EDF and Total under take-or-pay contracts until 2036. The remaining quarter of terminal capacity serves the evolving Northwestern Europe LNG market.
This acquisition follows AXA IM – Real Assets’ acquisition in March of a 15 percent stake in Agility Trains West in the United Kingdom, and its earlier acquisition of a stake in the A63 motorway in France.
“In early 2017 we identified Dunkirk LNG as an ideal addition to our managed portfolio,” said Mark Gilligan, head of infrastructure equity at AXA IM – Real Assets. “We were especially impressed by its superb engineering, strategic location and essentiality to the long-term secure energy supply of Northwestern Europe. We value investing alongside aligned financial and operating partners — importantly, Fluxys has a reputation for operational excellence including health, safety and the environment. More broadly, we consider natural gas an important component of a low carbon future.”
