Venture Global LNG Plans Filing as Soon as This Week for $3 Billion IPO

(Bloomberg) -- Venture Global LNG Inc. is planning to file as soon as this week for an initial public offering that could raise more than $3 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company, one of the biggest suppliers of liquefied natural gas in the US, is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. on the listing, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. Details of the company’s plans could still change, they added.

Representatives for Venture Global, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan and Bank of America declined to comment.

A $3 billion IPO by Venture Global would place it among the year’s largest first-time share sales globally, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. About $40 billion has been raised via IPOs on US exchanges this year, the data show, a roughly 60% jump from same period in 2023 but still below the average in the decade before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Venture Global, based in Arlington, Virginia, operates the Calcasieu Pass facility in southwestern Louisiana and is in the midst of starting up its second plant, Plaquemines LNG, just south of New Orleans. Two more projects, CP2 and Delta LNG, are also planned in Louisiana but remain in the permitting stage.

The company is among the biggest LNG producers in the US and will leapfrog to the second-largest producer behind Cheniere Energy Inc. once its second facility is fully online.

Co-founders Mike Sabel and Bob Pender launched Venture Global in 2013. They were initially viewed as outsiders to the Houston energy industry and a longshot bet to the growing ranks of US LNG project developers.

Calcasieu Pass began exporting LNG in 2022, but Venture Global hasn’t started delivering on its long-term contracts to its buyers, which include oil and gas majors Shell Plc., BP Plc., European energy companies Repsol SA, Galp Energia SGPS SA and Orlen SA and China’s Sinopec. The company has cited technical issues at the facility that have delayed the contract starts, although Venture Global has continued to load LNG cargoes from the plant, selling the fuel to the spot market at higher prices.

Venture Global’s customers, as well as engineering, procurement and construction firm Kiewit Corp., have engaged in arbitration on the matter and have called on lawmakers and regulators in both the US and Europe.

Former employees also have sued the company, accusing it of preventing them from exercising stock options in the company. The latest suit was filed by former executive Jessica Wickett.

--With assistance from Stephen Stapczynski.

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