Singapore’s Sembcorp Marine (Sembmarine) has increased its stake in Norway-based Gravifloat AS to 56%, which it intends to fully acquire eventually.
In a statement on Wednesday, SembMarine says it acquired a 44% stake in Gravifloat for US$38 million ($52.6 million), in addition to the 12% stake it already owns.
The agreement also allows Sembmarine to eventually increase its stake by a further 44% to 100% through an equity purchase at the same price.
Gravifloat designs and holds parents for a suite of redeployable, modularised solutions based on its unique near-shore floating yet gravity-based LNG terminal solutions.
Wong Weng Sun, president and CEO of Sembcorp Marine, said that the increased stake “reflects our strategy to broaden and deepen the group’s range of proprietary designs and solutions to develop new state-of-the-art facilities for the fast evolving LNG and LPG industries.”
Developed as a near-shore LNG solution, Gravifloat’s units offer the advantages of a floating solution with floatable modules built and tested at a shipyard, and can be designed to import or to export liquefied natural gas. The units aim to be more cost-effective than floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), floating LNG (FLNG) vessels or land terminals.
SembMarine says the acquisition would enable it to exert greater control over Gravifloat and expand its products and services by moving into offshore gas processing units.
Gravifloat will become a subsidiary of SembMarine following the acquisition of the 44% stake.