S-1/A 1 ny20000051x11_s1a.htm S-1/A

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As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 4, 2022.
Registration No. 333-262065
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, DC 20549
Amendment No. 3 to
FORM S-1
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
Excelerate Energy, Inc.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware
4924
87-2878691
(State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization)
(Primary Standard Industrial
Classification Code Number)
(I.R.S. Employer
Identification Number)
2445 Technology Forest Blvd., Level 6
The Woodlands, TX 77381
(832) 813-7100
(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)
Steven Kobos
President and Chief Executive Officer
Excelerate Energy, Inc.
2445 Technology Forest Blvd., Level 6
The Woodlands, TX 77381
(832) 813-7100
(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)
 
With copies to:
 
Andrew L. Fabens
Hillary H. Holmes
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
811 Main Street, Suite 3000
Houston, TX 77002
(346) 718-6600
Alisa Newman Hood
Executive Vice President, General Counsel
and Secretary
Excelerate Energy, Inc.
2445 Technology Forest Blvd., Level 6
The Woodlands, TX 77381
(832) 813-7100
Michael Kaplan
Pedro Bermeo
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
450 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10022
(212) 450-4000
Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: As soon as practicable after this registration statement becomes effective.
If any of the securities being registered on this form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box. ☐
If this form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):
Large accelerated filer
Accelerated filer
Non-accelerated filer ☒
Smaller reporting company
 
Emerging growth company ☒
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act.
The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or until the Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to such Section 8(a), may determine.

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The information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. These securities may not be sold until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities, and it is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities, in any state where the offer or sale is not permitted.
Subject to Completion, dated April 4, 2022
PROSPECTUS
16,000,000 Shares

Class A Common Stock
This is Excelerate Energy, Inc.’s initial public offering. We are selling shares of our Class A common stock.
Currently, no public market exists for our Class A common stock. We expect the initial public offering price to be between $21.00 and $24.00 per Class A share. We have applied to list our Class A common stock on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE’’) under the symbol “EE.”
Each share of Class A common stock and Class B common stock will entitle the holder to one vote. The Class B common stockholder will hold 77.0% of the combined voting power of our common stock immediately after this offering. See “Organizational Structure.”
We will be a “controlled company” under the corporate governance listing standards of the NYSE following the completion of this offering and, as a result, intend to rely on exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements. See “Management—Controlled Company Exemption.”
We are an “emerging growth company” as defined under the U.S. federal securities laws and, as such, have elected to comply with certain reduced public company reporting requirements for this and future filings. See “Prospectus Summary—Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company.”
Investing in our Class A common stock involves risks that are described in the “Risk Factors” section beginning on page 20 of this prospectus.
 
Per Share
Total
Initial public offering price
$   
$   
Underwriting discounts and commissions(1)
$
$
Proceeds, before expenses, to us
$
$
(1)
See “Underwriting (Conflicts of Interest)” for a description of all underwriting compensation payable in connection with this offering.
At our request, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, a participating underwriter, has reserved for sale, at the initial public offering price, up to 5% of the shares offered by this prospectus for sale to certain of our directors, officers, employees, business associates and related persons. If these persons purchase reserved shares it will reduce the number of shares available for sale to the general public. Any reserved shares that are not so purchased will be offered by the underwriters to the general public on the same terms as the other shares offered by this prospectus. For more information regarding the directed share program, see “Underwriting (Conflicts of Interest)—Directed Share Program.”
The underwriters may also exercise an option to purchase up to an additional 2,400,000 shares of our Class A common stock from us, at the public offering price, less the underwriting discount, for 30 days after the date of this prospectus.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
The shares of Class A common stock will be ready for delivery on or about    , 2022.
Barclays
J.P. Morgan
Morgan Stanley
Wells Fargo Securities
SMBC Nikko
Raymond James
Stephens Inc.
Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.
BOK Financial Securities, Inc.
Prospectus dated    , 2022

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Neither we nor the underwriters have authorized anyone to provide you with information other than that contained in this prospectus or in any free writing prospectus prepared by or on behalf of us or to which we have referred you. We and the underwriters take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. We and the underwriters are offering to sell, and seeking offers to buy, Class A common stock only in jurisdictions where offers and sales are permitted. The information contained in this prospectus or any free writing prospectus is accurate only as of its date, regardless of its time of delivery or of any sale of shares of our Class A common stock. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since that date.
For investors outside of the United States: We have not, and the underwriters have not, done anything that would permit this offering, or possession or distribution of this prospectus, in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than the United States. Persons outside of the United States who come into possession of this prospectus must inform themselves about, and observe any restrictions relating to, the offering of the shares of our Class A common stock and the distribution of this prospectus outside of the United States.
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General Information
Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, references in this prospectus to “our company,” “we,” “us,” “our” and “Excelerate” refer to Excelerate Energy, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and its subsidiaries. Excelerate was incorporated as a Delaware corporation on September 10, 2021 and, prior to the consummation of the Reorganization (as defined herein) and our initial public offering, did not conduct any activities other than those incidental to our formation and our initial public offering. Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, references to “common stock” refer to our Class A common stock and Class B common stock, collectively.
We currently conduct our business through Excelerate Energy Limited Partnership, a Delaware limited partnership, which we refer to as “EELP,” its subsidiaries and entities consolidated under the variable interest entity model, and we lease the Foundation Vessels to utilize them in our business.
Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, the “Foundation” refers to the George Kaiser Family Foundation and its affiliates, including Maya Maritime LLC, its wholly owned subsidiary, collectively.
The “Foundation Vessels” refers to Excelsior, LLC and FSRU Vessel (Excellence), LLC (f/k/a Excellence, LLC), collectively.
“Kaiser” refers to George B. Kaiser, who owns, directly and indirectly, substantially all of Excelerate Energy Holdings, LLC (“EE Holdings”), and his affiliates (other than Excelerate and any entity that is controlled by Excelerate), unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires. Upon consummation of this offering, Kaiser, through EE Holdings, will have the ability to direct the voting of a majority of the voting power of our common stock.
Basis of Presentation
Excelerate is a newly incorporated entity, has not engaged in any business or other activities except in connection with its formation and had no assets or liabilities during the periods presented in this prospectus. Accordingly, this prospectus includes certain historical consolidated financial and other data for EELP. Following this offering, EELP will be the predecessor of Excelerate for financial reporting purposes. Immediately following this offering, Excelerate will be a holding company, and its sole material asset will be Class A partnership interests in EELP, which Excelerate will hold either directly or indirectly through one or more wholly owned subsidiaries. As the general partner (or owner of the general partner) of EELP, Excelerate will operate and control all of the business and affairs of EELP and, through EELP and its subsidiaries, conduct our business. The Reorganization (as defined below) will be accounted for as a reorganization of entities under common control. As a result, the consolidated financial statements of Excelerate will recognize the assets and liabilities received in the Reorganization at their historical carrying amounts, as reflected in the historical financial statements of EELP. Excelerate will consolidate EELP on its consolidated financial statements and record a non-controlling interest related to the Class B interests in EELP held by EE Holdings on its consolidated balance sheet and statement of income. See “Organizational Structure” and “Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Consolidated Financial Information.”
Numerical figures included in this prospectus have been subject to rounding adjustments. Accordingly, numerical figures shown as totals in various tables may not be arithmetic aggregations of the figures that precede them.
Market and Industry Data
Unless otherwise indicated, information contained in this prospectus concerning our industry and the markets in which we operate, including our general expectations and market position, market opportunity and market size, is based on industry publications and other published industry sources prepared by third parties, including the Global Gas 2021 Outlook to 2025™, a product of Wood Mackenzie, Bloomberg, IHS Markit, Shell, CIA World Factbook, U.S. Energy Information Administration and the International Group of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers, as well as publicly available information. In some cases, we do not expressly refer to the sources from which this data is derived. In that regard, when we refer to one or more sources of this type of data in any paragraph, you should assume that other data of this type appearing in the same paragraph is derived from the same sources, unless otherwise expressly stated or the context otherwise requires.
Because this information involves a number of assumptions and limitations, you are cautioned not to give undue weight to such information. We have not independently verified market data and industry forecasts provided by any of these or any other third-party sources referred to in this prospectus.
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In addition, projections, assumptions and estimates of our future performance and the future performance of the industry in which we operate are necessarily subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in the section captioned “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus. These and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the estimates made by third parties and by us.
Trademarks
We own or have the rights to use various trademarks, service marks and trade names that we use in connection with the operation of our business, including Excelerate Energy, Excelerate Technical Management, their respective logos and a distinctive shield logo. This prospectus may also contain trademarks, service marks and trade names of third parties, which are the property of their respective owners. Our use or display of third parties’ trademarks, service marks, trade names or products in this prospectus is not intended to, and does not, imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship by, us. Solely for convenience, the trademarks, service marks and trade names presented in this prospectus may appear without the ®, TM or SM symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or the rights of the applicable licensor to these trademarks, service marks and trade names.
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PROSPECTUS SUMMARY
This summary highlights selected information discussed in this prospectus. The summary is not complete and does not contain all of the information you should consider before investing in our Class A common stock. Therefore, you should read this entire prospectus carefully, including the sections titled “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” and our financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus, before making a decision to purchase shares of our Class A common stock. Some of the statements in this summary constitute forward-looking statements. See “Forward-Looking Statements.”
Overview
Excelerate is changing the way the world accesses cleaner, more affordable and reliable energy by delivering regasified natural gas, benefitting hundreds of millions of people around the world. From our founding, we have focused on providing flexible liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) solutions to emerging markets in diverse environments across the globe, providing a lesser emitting form of energy to markets that often rely on coal as their primary energy source. At Excelerate, we believe that access to affordable energy such as LNG is critical to assisting emerging markets in their decarbonization efforts, while at the same time promoting economic growth and improving quality of life.
We have grown our business significantly since our first floating storage and regasification unit (“FSRU”) charter in 2003, and today, we are a profitable energy company with a geographically diversified business model. Our business spans the globe, with regional offices in eight countries and operations in the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and Bangladesh. We are the largest provider of regasified LNG in Argentina and Bangladesh and one of the largest providers of regasified LNG in Brazil and Pakistan, and we operate the largest FSRU in Brazil. We also lease an LNG terminal in Bahia, Brazil from Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (“Petrobras”), and in December 2021, we started importing LNG and selling regasified natural gas to Petrobras. In addition to Petrobras, we have plans to sell regasified natural gas to other downstream customers in Brazil, Albania, the Philippines and Bangladesh. In each of these countries, we offer a cleaner energy source from which power can be generated consistently. The high value our customers place on our services has resulted in a reliable source of revenues to us, while our global reach helps balance seasonal demand fluctuation among the geographies in which we operate. For the year ended December 31, 2021, we generated revenues of $888.6 million, net income of $41.2 million and Adjusted EBITDAR of $291.1 million. Of the $888.6 million in revenues generated during the year ended December 31, 2021, approximately 40% of those revenues came from our North and South American operations, approximately 35% from our Asia-Pacific operations and approximately 20% from our Middle East and North Africa operations. For the year ended December 31, 2020, we generated revenues of $430.8 million, net income of $32.9 million and Adjusted EBITDAR of $256.2 million. For more information regarding our non-GAAP measure Adjusted EBITDAR and a reconciliation to net income, the most comparable GAAP (as defined herein) measure, see “—Summary Historical Consolidated Financial Information—Non-GAAP Financial Measures—Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDAR.”
Our business focuses on the integration of the natural gas-to-power LNG value chain, and as part of this value chain, we operate regasification terminals in growing global economies that utilize our FSRU fleet. Our business is substantially supported by time charter contracts, which are effectively long-term, take-or-pay arrangements and provide consistent revenue and cash flow from our high-quality customer base. As of February 2022, we operate a fleet of ten purpose-built FSRUs, have completed more than 2,200 ship-to-ship (“STS”) transfers of LNG with over 40 LNG operators since we began operations and safely delivered more than 5,500 billion cubic feet (“BCF”) of natural gas through 15 LNG terminals. For the years ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, we generated revenues of $468.0 million and $430.8 million, respectively, from our FSRU and terminal services businesses, representing approximately 53% and 100% of our total revenues for each of those years.
We also procure LNG from major producers and sell regasified natural gas through our flexible LNG terminals. For the year ended December 31, 2021, we generated revenues of $420.5 million from LNG and natural gas sales, representing approximately 47% of our total revenues for that year. For the year ended December 31, 2020, we had no revenue from LNG and natural gas sales due to our strategic decision to pursue long-term sales contracts rather than short-term contracts or spot market sales.
The commercial momentum that we have established in recent years and the increasing need for access to LNG around the world have resulted in a significant portfolio of new growth opportunities for us to pursue. In addition to our FSRU and terminal services businesses and natural gas sales, we plan to expand our business to provide
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customers with an array of products, including LNG-to-power projects and a suite of smaller-scale natural gas distribution solutions. We are currently developing a set of integrated LNG projects in Albania, the Philippines and Bangladesh. We consider these projects to be in advanced development and estimate that these projects together represent $1 billion in future capital investment. We are also evaluating and pursuing over twenty additional early-stage projects with opportunities in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America and Asia.
Our integrated LNG solutions are designed to avoid the roadblocks that routinely hinder the development of terminal, gas and power projects in markets worldwide. We offer enhanced energy security and independence to the countries in which we operate, while playing a vital role in advancing their efforts to lower carbon emissions and comply with the Paris Agreement on climate change. From our global experience, we see firsthand the impact of providing local communities with a reliable source of energy and the subsequent development of natural gas and power infrastructure to take advantage of the natural gas we deliver to them. With improved accesses to cleaner, more affordable and reliable energy, countries are able to power industries, light homes and bolster economies. Additionally, some of the markets in which we operate lack developed energy infrastructure and therefore rely heavily on our services. For example, our operations in Pakistan provide as much as 15% of the country’s daily natural gas requirements, and our projects in Bangladesh have increased the country’s natural gas supply by 20% to 30%. We seek to optimize our LNG portfolio and fleet flexibility to deliver the best solutions that scale with our customers’ needs.
We believe that LNG will play a critical part in the global transition to a lower-carbon future. Even the most aggressive scenarios that call for a larger role for renewables and new technology in decarbonization efforts fail to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goals without substantial growth in natural gas volumes, including in the form of LNG, through 2040. While more aggressive mandates to shift electricity generation away from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources are possible, as a pioneer in flexible LNG solutions, we are well positioned to support society’s transition to a lower-carbon energy future.
History
Excelerate was founded in July 2003 by George B. Kaiser, a Tulsa-based investor who is the principal owner of Kaiser-Francis Oil Company and majority shareholder of BOK Financial Corporation and maintains a broad investment portfolio. Mr. Kaiser has a history of making long-term investments in significant infrastructure assets that complement his existing energy portfolio. He has various investments in the oil and gas sector, including upstream exploration and production assets, natural gas processing, oilfield services and contract drilling.
Since our founding, we have successfully delivered innovative LNG solutions and have been at the forefront of technical innovation in the LNG industry, achieving several “World Firsts” in the process, as market dynamics and the energy needs of our customers have evolved.

Competitive Landscape
A fundamental aspect of our commercial strategy is to pursue aggressively positions in markets where we can create a foundation for lasting value creation. Although there are several developed countries that make up a significant portion of expected future global LNG demand, they are currently being served by major suppliers and provide limited growth potential for us. We place a high premium on leveraging our integrated LNG model to open new markets and partnering with LNG producers to create sustainable and profitable relationships with our customers. Our competitive landscape includes the following participants:
LNG-to-power developers. In many of our markets, we compete with other LNG-to-power companies, including New Fortress Energy and AES. Our investment strategy is focused on leveraging our FSRU expertise and local operational experience and relationship development to drive the expansion of incremental
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infrastructure projects downstream of our terminals. Our focus on the LNG-to-power value chain allows us to develop higher quality projects and enhances our ability to compete for new opportunities, as our host governments consider incremental investments to meet their growing energy demand needs.
Large LNG producers. When compared to major LNG producers such as Qatargas, Shell, ExxonMobil, BP and Total Energies, we believe we are better positioned to open and expand new markets given our expertise in the downstream portion of the LNG value chain. Our focus is on helping LNG producers expand the reach of their LNG supply beyond their traditional markets, resulting in less price pressure and better portfolio diversification. In close collaboration with Qatargas, we succeeded in bringing regasified LNG to Pakistan and Bangladesh, which triggered a dramatic displacement of coal fired plants from the government’s energy plans. Additionally, we are collaborating with ExxonMobil on a feasibility study in Albania of an opportunity for them to provide LNG and for us to develop the LNG terminal, power generation facilities and pipeline interconnections necessary to make the importation of LNG viable, illustrating how we can provide value to LNG producers while capturing integrated markets downstream.
FSRU / LNG carrier owners. As the owner and operator of the largest FSRU fleet employed for regasification in the industry, we compete with FSRU and LNG carrier (“LNGC”) owners such as New Fortress Energy (following its acquisition of Hygo Energy Transition and Golar LNG Partners), Hoegh LNG and GasLog. We distinguish ourselves by providing customers the ability to expand our service as their energy demands increase. This flexible approach, focused on optimizing services by swapping smaller FSRUs for larger ones, performing technical upgrades and offering seasonal service when required, fosters trust and long-term relationships with our customers. We believe the fundamentals supporting the FSRU business model require operators to focus on reliability, value and service, combined with disciplined expansion and growth.
Competitive Strengths
We believe we are well positioned to achieve our primary business objectives and execute our business strategies based on the following competitive strengths:
Experienced LNG Leader and Proven Ability to Execute. We are an admired player within the LNG industry with significant experience across the value chain. Our experienced team and proven LNG solutions, including the industry's largest FSRU fleet employed for regasification, more than 2,200 STS transfers of LNG with over 40 LNG operators and the development or operation of 15 LNG import terminals, make us a market leader and a trusted partner for countries who seek to improve their access to energy. We have nearly two decades of development, construction and operational experience, making us one of the most accomplished, reliable and capable LNG companies in the industry. Our team’s in-depth experience and local presence enable us to support energy hubs by sourcing and aggregating LNG from the global market for delivery downstream, ensuring the long-term stability, reliability, and independence of customers’ energy supply.
Positioned to Meet Growing Global Demand for Cleaner Energy. According to the International Energy Agency’s (“IEA”) most recent semi-annual Electricity Market Report, global electricity demand rebounded strongly in 2021, growing by close to 6% over the prior year, and is expected to increase by approximately 3% annually in 2022 and 2023. With the demand for power generation growing worldwide, direct access to diverse, affordable and reliable energy sources such as LNG has become a critical enabler for economic growth and improving the quality of life across the globe. LNG provides an abundant, competitive and cleaner energy source to meet the world’s growing demand for power. It is also an efficient means to displace coal, which is a higher carbon intensity fuel compared to natural gas. Despite its advantages, LNG access is not readily available in many emerging markets due to the complexity of LNG import projects. We have an established reputation for developing and operating complex LNG solutions and are a trusted operator with a strong track record of bringing reliability, resiliency and flexibility to energy systems.
Full-Service, Integrated LNG Business Model Provides Competitive Advantage. As market dynamics and the energy needs of customers have evolved over time, we embraced the opportunity to expand beyond our FSRU business. Today, we are addressing the need for increased access to LNG with our fully integrated business model that manages the LNG supply chain from procurement until final delivery to end users. We plan to help our customers meet their growing energy demand by providing an array of products, including LNG terminal services, natural gas supply procurement and distribution, LNG-to-power projects
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and a suite of smaller-scale gas distribution solutions. By offering our customers flexible, fully integrated and tailored LNG solutions, we are able to increase the financial value of these opportunities while enabling our customers to safely and efficiently access the energy they need.
Well-Established FSRU Business Supported by Dependable Revenue Base. We own and operate the largest FSRU fleet employed for regasification in the industry. The success of our well established FSRU business is highlighted by our ability to secure long-term, take-or-pay contracts that generate consistent revenue and cash flow with minimal exposure to commodity price volatility. Our ability to swap FSRUs between projects makes our baseline revenue more predictable and minimizes redeployment risk. Further, we minimize the initial commitments for integrated offers through the initial use of existing, smaller capacity FSRUs while our customers’ markets evolve. Most of our existing customers have benefited from this scalability, which has resulted in better project returns and higher customer loyalty. This strength has allowed us to capture downstream markets such as Brazil, where our successful FSRU services with Petrobras opened the door to accessing gas sales through the lease of the Bahia Regasification Terminal from Petrobras. Our profitable FSRU and LNG marketing and supply businesses also provide us with valuable connectivity to global downstream markets. With our expansive global presence, we are well positioned to deliver integrated natural gas and power solutions, giving our customers access to cleaner, reliable and affordable energy.
Understanding of LNG Market Dynamics Allows for Portfolio Optimization. We leverage our expertise and understanding of LNG market dynamics to create significant value though our LNG marketing and supply business. Our worldwide market access and ability to buy LNG from major LNG producers and traders gives us the chance to capture additional value via portfolio optimization and provides incremental cash flow. Even more importantly, our access to diverse, uncorrelated markets, including New England and Brazil, generates valuable arbitrage opportunities. We are structuring our business to be able to maximize this extra value from LNG supply to gas sales agreements (“GSA”) and power purchase agreements (“PPA”). Our strategy of integrating LNG supply, natural gas sales and terminal operations, gives us the ability to optimize our FSRU fleet utilization.
Proven Management Team. Our management team has experience in all aspects of the LNG value chain and a strong balance of technical, commercial, operational, financial, legal and management skills. Steven Kobos, our President and Chief Executive Officer, has over 27 years of experience working on complex energy and infrastructure development projects and general maritime operations, specifically LNG shipping, FSRUs, chartering of vessels, shipbuilding contracts, operational agreements and related project finance and tax matters, and he has helped establish Excelerate as a growing and profitable international energy company. Daniel Bustos, our Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, has over 24 years of experience leading commercial development of oil and gas projects across the globe, with a particular focus on LNG, and is responsible for the commercial development of our LNG import projects, expansion of our customer base and the buildout of our global network of regional offices. Dana Armstrong, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, provides oversight of all global financial reporting, financial planning and analysis, accounting, treasury, tax, financial systems and internal controls and has led both public and private multinational companies within the energy and biotechnology industries over her 25-year career. Calvin Bancroft, our Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, has over 40 years of experience in the shipping industry, with recognized expertise in maritime security, chartering, supply chain management and operational logistics. Alisa Newman Hood, our Executive Vice President and General Counsel, has 20 years of worldwide legal, government relations and energy policy experience. Amy Thompson, our Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, has over 22 years of human resources experience in global oil field services organizations and has held various leadership roles in the United States and the Middle East.
Business Strategies
Our primary objective is to provide superior returns to our shareholders as a vertically integrated energy company committed to addressing the lack of access to cleaner energy around the world. We intend to achieve this objective by implementing the following strategies:
Continue to develop our existing, diversified regasification business, supported by our large purpose-built FSRU fleet. Our current markets are essential to maintaining our solid foundation of revenues and providing new opportunities for downstream growth. Our persistent market presence helps
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ensure that we will be well positioned to compete for new growth opportunities as our host governments seek new investment to meet their growing energy needs. In order to continue to develop our existing, diversified regasification business, we plan to use our brand recognition and strategic commercial actions to develop a reputation as more than an FSRU provider. Maintaining a strong presence will require that our teams continue to place a high priority on operational excellence, active management of technical obsolescence, operation and maintenance improvements and fleet optimization.
In Argentina and Brazil, we have worked closely with our customers to understand and respond to their changing energy needs. We have extended the life of our initial service agreements by offering excellent performance, in addition to operational upgrades, capacity increases, and seasonal service options. In the Middle East and Asia, where we have more recently entered long-term contracts, we are considering similar actions to expand terminal capacity or deploy assets more efficiently to meet customer requirements and lay the foundation for potential contract extension discussions in the future.
Pursue opportunities downstream of existing markets. With established terminals, existing markets provide opportunities for us to structure end-to-end natural gas supply products and cleaner power solutions for our customers. We expect the organic growth of our business to be accompanied by strategic acquisitions for new or existing projects, in order to enhance our growth trajectory. As we integrate new infrastructure assets downstream of our floating LNG terminals, we will be required to make investments in new products and technologies to ensure that we are positioned for success in a lower-carbon energy future. We anticipate that increasing global demand for electricity generation, more efficient access to natural gas and decarbonization initiatives will be the primary drivers of opportunity, and we intend to diversify our product portfolio responsibly and in a manner that reinforces our broader goals of improving access to cleaner, more affordable and reliable energy, creating sustainable growth and combatting climate change. Our local teams will be key to expanding and diversifying our commercial, technical and financial expertise in our existing markets.
In several existing markets, we are actively engaged with customers and host governments to understand their natural gas and power needs. In Brazil, we successfully secured access to the Bahia Regasification Terminal (owned by Petrobras), where we have deployed one of our existing FSRUs and started to import LNG and sell regasified natural gas, thereby significantly increasing natural gas availability during the worst energy crisis in two decades. In March 2022, we were officially awarded the charter to provide seasonal regasification service at the Bahia Blanca Gas Port terminal in Argentina from May 15 until August 31, 2022, with a possible extension until September 30, 2022. In Bangladesh, where we already operate two LNG terminals, we are developing Payra LNG, a fully integrated project including LNG supply, an LNG terminal and pipelines to supply a power plant and provide natural gas distribution to areas of the country with acute natural gas deficits. Given our existing LNG terminals and the one in development in Bangladesh, we have been given the opportunity to negotiate with state-owned and private entities on a power project that when complete would produce more than 3,600 megawatts (“MW”) of power, and in connection with the development of this power project, we would lead both LNG supply and LNG and natural gas infrastructure development. We are also in negotiations to expand our operations and the capacity of our Moheshkhali LNG terminal (“MLNG terminal”). In February 2022, we were notified that our technical proposal to expand the MLNG terminal had received approval in principle from Bangladesh Oil, Gas & Mineral Corporation (“Petrobangla”) and Bangladesh’s Energy and Mineral Resources Division, and we have commenced negotiations of the definitive agreements. Additionally, in March 2022, we began negotiations with Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited, a division of Petrobangla, for a long-term LNG supply and purchase agreement related to the expansion our MLNG terminal that could result in Excelerate selling up to 2 MTPA of LNG to Bangladesh over a 15-year term. We expect our Payra LNG project to follow a similar approval process through which we have demonstrated consistent recent success.
Additionally, we consider our existing terminals to be natural hubs for smaller-scale distribution of LNG, through the use of trucks, trains and smaller marine vessels. In Argentina, we are actively negotiating an equity investment in an existing LNG terminal and the joint development of barge and truck LNG distribution. We intend to explore additional downstream opportunities to sell natural gas to customers in Chile through existing pipeline networks.
Utilize our global presence to enter new, growing markets. We plan to use our existing markets as a springboard into new countries and regions. Our ability to cultivate meaningful partnerships and successfully acquire equity interests in projects will be a determining factor in how quickly we are able to
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achieve critical mass in new markets. We are currently developing a set of integrated LNG projects in Albania, the Philippines and Bangladesh. We consider these projects to be in advanced development and estimate that these projects together represent $1 billion in future capital investment. We are evaluating and pursuing over twenty additional early-stage projects with opportunities in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America and Asia.
In Albania, we signed a memorandum of understanding (“MOU”) in March 2021 with ExxonMobil and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy to conduct a feasibility study for the development of an LNG-to-power project at the port of Vlora. Under a second MOU signed in July 2021 with Albgaz and Snam, we will explore solutions to connect the Vlora LNG Terminal with other natural gas infrastructure, with the potential to satisfy the increasing energy security needs of neighboring countries in Europe. In line with these efforts, we responded to a request for proposal from the Albanian government to lease power barges to them on an emergency basis. In January 2022, we were notified that our offer had been qualified and awarded as the winner. We are now entering into negotiations of two-year definitive commercial agreements and expect the power barges to commence service in the third quarter of 2022. The emergency power barge solution, which is aligned with our commitment to Albania’s energy future, would help mitigate Albania’s current energy crisis driven by the highly volatile cost of power imports from Europe, while also serving as a planned transition to our long-term LNG-to-power project.
In the Philippines, we received a Notice to Proceed from the Department of Energy to develop the country’s first open-access LNG terminal in Batangas Bay. The Filipinas LNG Gateway would provide access to all natural gas-fired power plants in the Luzon region. In April 2021, we applied to the Philippines Department of Energy for a formal project permit to construct, expand, rehabilitate and modify the necessary infrastructure to support the LNG terminal.
We are also developing Distributed Gas Solutions (“DGS”) to accompany the Filipinas LNG Gateway in a hub and spoke model. DGS will deliver natural gas to downstream users regardless of location or size using technology solutions, including small-scale LNGCs and LNG shipping containers loaded onto trucks. In addition to our DGS offering, we are exploring partnerships with companies specialized in low-carbon technology solutions that complement our existing LNG products.
Vietnam is a market with several opportunities to develop LNG-to-power projects in accordance with the government’s Power Development Plan. We are in active discussions and have signed MOUs with potential project partners to bring our LNG know-how and technical expertise to this market.
Create a sizable, diversified LNG procurement portfolio. Our expansion downstream will offer us the opportunity to establish valuable access to a worldwide network of natural gas markets. Our network of supply and charter contracts and reputation with major LNG producers provide us with ample opportunities to grow our LNG portfolio on competitive terms. This diversified portfolio will give us the opportunity to better manage the typical uncertainties of local demand (weather seasonality, economic cycles, availability of renewables, etc.), while capturing arbitrage opportunities. For example, we have already demonstrated the value of accessing the New England market in a flexible way. With the addition of new market access points in Asia, Europe, Africa and South America, we can capture value from our LNG procurement portfolio, above the margins generated in individual markets. Finally, this LNG portfolio will help further enhance our competitive edge for new opportunities, allowing us to offer more flexible and cost-effective products to new customers.
Maintain our disciplined investment philosophy. As we grow our business, we are committed to maintaining our disciplined investment philosophy and prudent approach to project development. We have established a proven track record of investing in the right projects which has resulted in higher project returns and consistent earnings results. We also strive to negotiate the terms of our contracts in a manner that seeks to minimize any potential commodity risk. It is our aim to have an industry leading portfolio of high-return growth opportunities that will support sustainable and profitable growth for years to come. We expect our contract portfolio to evolve over time to include long-term contracts as well as shorter-term agreements that will create opportunities to capture additional upside.
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Risk Factors Summary
Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those highlighted in the section entitled “Risk Factors” immediately following this prospectus summary. These risks include, but are not limited to, the following:
our ability to enter into contracts with customers and our customers’ failure to perform their contractual obligations;
customer termination rights in our contracts;
the risks inherent in operating our FSRUs and other LNG infrastructure assets;
the technical complexity of our FSRUs and LNG import terminals and related operational problems;
cancellations, time delays, unforeseen expenses and other complications while developing our projects;
our inability to develop a project successfully and our customers’ failure to fulfill their payment obligations to us following our capital investment in a project;
the failure of our regasification terminals and other facilities to operate as expected or be completed;
our need for substantial expenditures to maintain and replace, over the long-term, the operating capacity of our fleet, regasification terminals and associated assets, pipelines and downstream infrastructure;
our reliance on our engineering, procurement and construction (“EPC”) contractors and other contractors for the successful completion of our energy-related infrastructure;
shortages of qualified officers and crew impairing our ability to operate or increasing the cost of crewing our vessels;
uncertainty related to construction costs, development timelines, third-party subcontractors and equipment manufacturers required to perform our development services;
our ability to obtain and maintain approvals and permits from governmental and regulatory agencies with respect to the design, construction and operation of our facilities and provision of our services;
our ability to maintain relationships with our customers and existing suppliers, source new suppliers for LNG and critical components of our projects and complete building out our supply chain;
our ability to connect with third-party pipelines, power plants and other facilities that provide gas receipt and delivery downstream of our integrated terminals;
our ability to purchase or receive physical delivery of LNG in sufficient quantities to satisfy our delivery obligations under GSAs or at attractive prices;
changes in the demand for and price of LNG and natural gas and LNG regasification capacity;
the competitive market for LNG regasification services;
fluctuations in hire rates for FSRUs;
infrastructure constraints and community and political group resistance to existing and new LNG and natural gas infrastructure over concerns about the environment, safety and terrorism;
outbreaks of epidemic and pandemic diseases and governmental responses thereto;
our ability to access financing sources on favorable terms;
our debt level and finance lease liabilities, which may limit our flexibility in obtaining additional financing, refinancing credit facilities upon maturity;
volatility of the global financial markets and uncertain economic conditions;
our financing agreements, which include financial restrictions and covenants and are secured by certain of our vessels;
compliance with various international treaties and conventions and national and local environmental, health, safety and maritime conduct laws that affect our operations;
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our dependence upon distributions from our subsidiaries to pay dividends, if any, taxes and other expenses and make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement;
the requirement that we pay over to the TRA Beneficiaries (as defined below) most of the tax benefits we receive;
payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement being accelerated and/or significantly exceeding the tax benefits, if any, that we actually realize;
the possibility that EELP will be required to make distributions to us and the other partners of EELP;
the material weaknesses identified in our internal control over financial reporting;
Kaiser having the ability to direct the voting of a majority of the voting power of our common stock, and his interests may conflict with those of our other stockholders; and
our ability to pay dividends on our Class A common stock.
You should carefully consider all of the information set forth in this prospectus and, in particular, the information in the section entitled “Risk Factors” beginning on page 20 of this prospectus prior to making an investment in our common stock. These risks could, among other things, prevent us from successfully executing our strategies and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Organizational Structure
We currently conduct our business through EELP, its subsidiaries and entities consolidated under the variable interest entity model, and we lease the Foundation Vessels to utilize them in our business.
Prior to the completion of this offering, we intend to undertake certain transactions as part of a reorganization (the “Reorganization”) described under “Organizational Structure—The Reorganization” below. As part of the Reorganization, EELP will purchase the Foundation Vessels from the Foundation. Immediately following the Reorganization and this offering, Excelerate will be a holding company and its sole material asset will be all of the Class A partnership interests of EELP, which Excelerate will hold either directly or indirectly through one or more wholly owned subsidiaries. Excelerate will be the general partner (or the sole owner of the general partner) of EELP, will operate and control all of EELP’s business and affairs and will be able to consolidate the financial results of EELP into Excelerate’s financial statements. Our organizational structure is commonly referred to as an UP-C structure, which is often used by partnerships and limited liability companies undertaking an initial public offering. The UP-C approach provides EE Holdings, which will own all (or substantially all) of the Class B interests of EELP, with the tax advantage of continuing to own interests in a pass-through structure and provides potential future tax benefits for Excelerate as the public company and economic benefits for EE Holdings when the Class B interests of EELP are exchanged for shares of Class A common stock.
In connection with this offering, Excelerate will enter into a Tax Receivable Agreement (the “Tax Receivable Agreement”) for the benefit of EE Holdings and the Foundation (or their affiliates) (together with EE Holdings, the “TRA Beneficiaries”). Pursuant to the Tax Receivable Agreement, Excelerate will pay 85% of the amount of the net cash tax savings, if any, that Excelerate is deemed to realize as a result of (i) certain increases in the tax basis of assets of EELP and its subsidiaries resulting from exchanges of EELP partnership interests in the future, (ii) certain tax attributes of EELP and subsidiaries of EELP (including the existing tax basis of assets owned by EELP or its subsidiaries and the tax basis of the Foundation Vessels) that exist as of the time of this offering or may exist at the time when Class B interests of EELP are exchanged for shares of Class A common stock, and (iii) certain other tax benefits related to Excelerate entering into the Tax Receivable Agreement, including tax benefits attributable to payments that Excelerate makes under the Tax Receivable Agreement. See “Organizational Structure” and “Certain Relationships and Related Person Transactions—Proposed Transactions with Excelerate Energy, Inc.—Tax Receivable Agreement.”
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The diagram below depicts our organizational structure before the completion of the Reorganization and this offering.

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The diagram below depicts our organizational structure following the completion of the Reorganization and this offering (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares).

(1)
At the closing of this offering, EE Holdings will own 81,497,778 Class B interests of EELP and 81,497,778 shares of Class B common stock of Excelerate.
(2)
Each share of Class A common stock of Excelerate will be entitled to one vote and will vote together with the Class B common stock as a single class, except as provided in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or required by law. See “Description of Capital Stock—Common Stock—Class A Common Stock.”
(3)
Each share of Class B common stock is entitled to one vote and will vote together with the Class A common stock as a single class, except as provided in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or required by law. The Class B common stock will have no economic rights in Excelerate. See “Description of Capital Stock—Common Stock—Class B Common Stock.”
(4)
Excelerate will, directly or indirectly, own all of the Class A interests of EELP after the Reorganization, which upon the completion of this offering will represent the right to receive approximately 23.0% of the distributions made by EELP. While this interest represents a minority of economic interests in EELP, it represents 100% of the voting interests, and Excelerate (or its subsidiary) will be admitted as the general partner of EELP in connection with the Reorganization. As a result, Excelerate will operate and control all of EELP’s business and affairs and will be required to consolidate its financial results into Excelerate’s financial statements.
(5)
At the closing of the offering, EE Holdings will own all of the outstanding shares of Class B common stock and all of the outstanding Class B interests of EELP, which upon the completion of this offering will represent the right to receive approximately 77.0% of the distributions made by EELP. No person will have any voting rights in EELP on account of the Class B interests, except for the right to approve amendments to the EELP Limited Partnership Agreement (as defined herein) that adversely affect the rights of holders of Class B interests. However, through ownership of shares of Class B common stock, EE Holdings will control a majority of the voting power of the common stock of Excelerate, the general partner (or sole owner of the general partner) of EELP and will therefore have indirect control over EELP. Class B interests of EELP may be exchanged for shares of our Class A common stock or, at our election, for cash, subject to certain restrictions pursuant to the EELP Limited Partnership Agreement described in “Certain Relationships and Related Person Transactions—Proposed Transactions with Excelerate Energy, Inc.—EELP Limited Partnership Agreement.” When a Class B interest is exchanged for a share of our Class A common stock or, at our election, for cash, it will result in the automatic cancellation of the corresponding number of shares of our Class B common stock and, therefore, will decrease the aggregate voting power of EE Holdings. Any beneficial holder exchanging Class B interests must ensure that the applicable corresponding number of shares of Class B common stock are delivered to us for cancellation as a condition of exercising its right to exchange Class B interests for shares of our Class A common stock or, at our election, for cash. After a Class B interest is surrendered for exchange, it will not be available for reissuance.
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Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company
As a company with less than $1.07 billion in revenue during our last fiscal year, we qualify as an emerging growth company (“EGC”) as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”). For so long as we remain an EGC, we are permitted, and have elected, to rely on exemptions from specified disclosure requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not EGCs. These exemptions include:
being permitted to provide only two years of audited financial statements, in addition to any required unaudited interim financial statements, with correspondingly reduced “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” disclosure;
not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements in the assessment of our internal control over financial reporting under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, for up to five years or until we no longer qualify as an emerging growth company;
not being required to comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”) regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements;
reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation pursuant to the rules applicable to smaller reporting companies, which means we do not have to include a compensation discussion and analysis and certain other disclosures regarding our executive compensation; and
exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and obtaining stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.
We may take advantage of these provisions for up to five years following completion of this offering or such earlier time when we are no longer an EGC. We will cease to be an EGC if we have more than $1.07 billion in annual revenue, have more than $700 million in market value of our capital stock held by non-affiliates or issue more than $1 billion of non-convertible debt over a three-year period. We may choose to take advantage of some, but not all, of the available exemptions. We have taken advantage of some reduced reporting burdens in this prospectus. Accordingly, the information contained herein may be different than the information you receive from other public companies in which you may hold stock.
The JOBS Act provides that an EGC may take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. This provision allows an EGC to delay the adoption of accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We may take advantage of this extended transition period, and as a result, we will comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption is required for private companies. See Note 2 to our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus for additional information.
Corporate Information
Excelerate was incorporated in Delaware on September 10, 2021. It had no business operations prior to this offering. In connection with the consummation of this offering, Excelerate will become (or a wholly owned subsidiary of Excelerate will become) the general partner of EELP, pursuant to the Reorganization described under “Organizational Structure—The Reorganization.” Our principal executive offices are located at 2445 Technology Forest Blvd., Level 6, The Woodlands, TX 77381 and our telephone number is (832) 813-7100. Our website address is www.excelerateenergy.com. Information contained on our website or linked therein or otherwise connected thereto does not constitute part of and is not incorporated by reference into this prospectus or the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. We have included our website address in this prospectus solely as an inactive textual reference.
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The Offering
Issuer
Excelerate Energy, Inc.
Class A common stock offered by
Excelerate
16,000,000 shares of Class A common stock (or 18,400,000 shares of Class A common stock if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares of Class A common stock in full).
Underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares of Class A common stock from Excelerate
2,400,000 shares of Class A common stock.
Class A common stock outstanding
immediately after this offering
24,377,778 shares of Class A common stock (or 26,777,778 shares of Class A common stock if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares of Class A common stock in full).
Assuming exchange of all Class B interests in EELP for Class A common stock, there will be 105,875,556 shares of Class A common stock.
Class B common stock outstanding
immediately after this offering
81,497,778 shares of Class B common stock. Class B common stock will be issued to holders of Class B interests in EELP.
Use of proceeds
We estimate that our net proceeds from this offering, based on an assumed initial public offering price of $22.50 per share of Class A common stock (the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover of this prospectus), after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions but before deducting expenses of this offering and the Reorganization payable by us, will be approximately $340.2 million, or approximately $391.2 million if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of Class A common stock.
We intend to cause EELP to use:

approximately $281.0 million of the net proceeds of this offering to fund our growth strategy, including our projects in Brazil at the Bahia Regasification Terminal, Albania at the Vlora LNG Terminal, the Philippines at the Filipinas LNG Gateway, and Bangladesh at the Payra LNG Terminal;

approximately $50.0 million of the net proceeds of this offering to fund in part EELP's purchase of the Foundation Vessels in connection with the Reorganization; and

approximately $9.2 million of the net proceeds of this offering to pay the expenses incurred by us in connection with this offering and the Reorganization.
See “Use of Proceeds” for a more complete description of the intended use of proceeds from this offering.
Controlled company
Upon completion of this offering, Kaiser will beneficially own, initially, indirectly through EE Holdings’ ownership of our Class B common stock, a majority of our voting power for the
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election of our directors. As a result, we expect to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the NYSE corporate governance standards, including exemptions from certain of the corporate governance listing requirements. See “Management—Controlled Company Exemption” and “Certain Relationships and Related Person Transactions.”
Dividend policy
We currently expect that (i) we will pay an annualized cash dividend of $0.10 per share to holders of our Class A common stock on a quarterly basis, which will be funded by an approximately $0.6 million quarterly distribution from EELP to us, and (ii) EELP will make a corresponding annualized distribution of $0.10 per interest to the holders of its Class B interests, resulting in an approximately $2.0 million quarterly distribution to such interest holders. We expect that these quarterly dividends will commence in the second quarter of 2022 and be paid in the third quarter of 2022. Any determination to pay dividends to holders of our common stock will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend upon many factors, including our financial condition, results of operations, projections, liquidity, earnings, legal requirements, covenant compliance, restrictions in our existing and any future debt agreements and other factors that our board of directors deems relevant. Holders of our Class B common stock will not be entitled to dividends from Excelerate. Following the Reorganization and this offering, Excelerate will be a holding company and its sole material asset will be the direct or indirect ownership of the Class A interests of EELP, of which it will be (or will own) the general partner. Subject to funds being legally available for distribution, we intend to cause EELP to make distributions to each of its partners, including Excelerate, in an amount intended to enable each partner to pay all applicable taxes on taxable income allocable to each partner and to enable Excelerate to make payments required under the Tax Receivable Agreement. If the amount of distributions to be made exceeds the amount of funds available for distribution, we will receive an amount sufficient to enable us to pay all applicable taxes on taxable income allocable to us before the other partners receive any distribution and the balance, if any, of funds available for distribution will be distributed to the other partners pro rata in accordance with their assumed tax liabilities. See “Dividend Policy.”
Voting rights
We have two classes of authorized common stock: Class A common stock and Class B common stock. Each share of Class A common stock and Class B common stock will entitle the holder to one vote.
Holders of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock will vote together as a single class on all matters presented to our stockholders for their vote or approval, except as otherwise provided in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or as required by applicable law. See “Description of Capital Stock.” When EE Holdings exchanges Class B interests in EELP for the corresponding number of shares of our Class A common stock or, at our election, for cash, it will result in the automatic cancellation of the
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corresponding number of shares of our Class B common stock and, therefore, will decrease the aggregate voting power of EE Holdings. See “Description of Capital Stock—Common Stock.”
EELP Limited Partnership Agreement and exchange of Class B interests
The EELP Limited Partnership Agreement will entitle EE Holdings, and certain permitted transferees, to exchange Class B interests, along with the cancellation of an equal number of shares of Class B common stock, for shares of our Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis or, at our election, for cash. When a Class B interest is exchanged for a share of our Class A common stock, the corresponding share of our Class B common stock will automatically be canceled. We have reserved for issuance 81,497,778 shares of our Class A common stock, which is the aggregate number of shares of our Class A common stock expected to be issued over time upon the exchanges by the holders of Class B interests, assuming we do not elect to exchange such Class B interests for cash. See “Organizational Structure—EELP Limited Partnership Agreement” and “Certain Relationships and Related Person Transactions—Proposed Transactions with Excelerate Energy, Inc.—EELP Limited Partnership Agreement.”
Tax Receivable Agreement
Excelerate and EELP will enter into the Tax Receivable Agreement for the benefit of the TRA Beneficiaries, pursuant to which Excelerate or EELP, as applicable, will pay 85% of the amount of the net cash tax savings, if any, that Excelerate is deemed to realize as a result of (i) certain increases in the tax basis of assets of EELP and its subsidiaries resulting from exchanges of EELP partnership interests in the future, (ii) certain tax attributes of EELP and subsidiaries of EELP (including the existing tax basis of assets owned by EELP or its subsidiaries and the tax basis of the Foundation Vessels) that exist as of the time of this offering or may exist at the time when Class B interests of EELP are exchanged for shares of Class A common stock, and (iii) certain other tax benefits related to Excelerate entering into the Tax Receivable Agreement, including tax benefits attributable to payments that Excelerate makes under the Tax Receivable Agreement. See “Organizational Structure” and “Certain Relationships and Related Person Transactions—Proposed Transactions with Excelerate Energy, Inc.—Tax Receivable Agreement.”
Directed Share Program
At our request, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, a participating underwriter, has reserved for sale, at the initial public offering price, up to 5% of the shares offered by this prospectus for sale to certain of our directors, officers, employees, business associates and related persons. If these persons purchase reserved shares it will reduce the number of shares available for sale to the general public. Any reserved shares that are not so purchased will be offered by the underwriters to the general public on the same terms as the other shares offered by this prospectus. Each person buying shares of Class A common stock through the directed share program will be subject to a
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180-day lock-up period with respect to such shares. For more information regarding the directed share program, see “Underwriting (Conflicts of Interest)—Directed Share Program.”
Conflicts of Interest
BOK Financial Securities, Inc., one of the underwriters in this offering, is under common control (within the meaning of Rules 5121(f) and 2262 of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”)) of Excelerate. As a result, BOK Financial Securities, Inc. is deemed to have a “conflict of interest” with us pursuant to FINRA Rule 5121(f)(5) with respect to this offering. Therefore, this offering will be conducted in compliance with the applicable requirements of FINRA Rule 5121. Pursuant to that rule, the appointment of a “qualified independent underwriter” is not required in connection with this offering as the members primarily responsible for managing this offering do not have a conflict of interest, are not affiliates of any member that has a conflict of interest and meet the requirements of FINRA Rule 5121(f)(12)(E). BOK Financial Securities, Inc. will not confirm initial sales to any discretionary accounts over which it has authority without the prior specific written approval of the customer. See “Underwriting (Conflicts of Interest)—Conflicts of Interest.”
Risk factors
You should carefully read and consider the information set forth in the section entitled “Risk Factors” beginning on page 20, together with all of the other information set forth in this prospectus, before deciding whether to invest in our Class A common stock.
Listing and trading symbol
We have applied to list our Class A common stock on the NYSE under the symbol “EE.”
Unless otherwise noted, Class A common stock outstanding after the offering and other information based thereon in this prospectus does not reflect any of the following:
2,400,000 shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares;
10,750,000 shares of Class A common stock issuable under our Excelerate Energy, Inc. Long-Term Incentive Plan (the “LTI Plan”), including:
(i)
shares underlying equity awards with an aggregate grant date fair value of approximately $5.0 million that we intend to grant to certain independent directors and employees, including members of our management team, pursuant to the LTI Plan in connection with this offering, which, at the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would be comprised of approximately 22,224 shares of Class A common stock underlying restricted stock units and approximately 373,821 stock options, which restricted stock units will vest ratably over a three-year period and which stock options will have an exercise price per share equal to the public offering price in this offering; and
(ii)
10,353,955 additional shares of Class A common stock to be reserved for future issuance of awards under the LTI Plan; and
81,497,778 shares of Class A common stock reserved for issuance upon exchange of the Class B interests of EELP (and the cancellation of the corresponding shares of Class B common stock) that will be outstanding immediately after this offering.
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Unless otherwise indicated in this prospectus, all information in this prospectus assumes the completion of the Reorganization and that shares of our Class A common stock will be sold in this offering at an initial public offering price of $22.50 per share (the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus).
Throughout this prospectus, we present performance metrics and financial information regarding the business of EELP (the assets, liabilities and business operations of which were contributed to EELP by EE Holdings). This information is generally presented on an enterprise-wide basis. The public stockholders, through their ownership of our Class A common stock issued in this offering, will be entitled to receive a pro rata portion of the economics of EELP’s operations through our ownership of Class A interests of EELP. Excelerate’s ownership of Class A interests initially will represent a minority share of EELP. EE Holdings initially will continue to hold a majority of the economic interest in the operations of EELP, as a non-controlling interest holder, through its ownership of Class B interests of EELP. Prospective investors should be aware that the owners of our Class A common stock initially will be entitled only to a minority economic position in EELP, and therefore should evaluate performance metrics and financial information in this prospectus accordingly. As Class B interests of EELP are exchanged for our Class A common stock over time (or, at our election, for cash), the percentage of the economic interest in EELP’s operations to which Excelerate and the public stockholders are entitled will increase relative to EE Holdings.
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Summary Historical Consolidated Financial Information
The following table sets forth certain summary historical consolidated financial information of EELP. EELP is considered our predecessor for accounting purposes, and its consolidated financial statements will be our historical financial statements following this offering. The following summary historical consolidated statements of income data for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 and the summary historical consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2021 and 2020 have been derived from the audited consolidated financial statements of EELP included elsewhere in this prospectus. Our historical results and growth rates are not necessarily indicative of the results or growth rates to be expected in future periods. You should read the following summary historical consolidated financial information in conjunction with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” and our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus. The summary consolidated financial information included in this section are not intended to replace the financial statements and are qualified in their entirety by our financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus.
 
Year Ended December 31,
(In thousands)
2021
2020
Statements of Operations Data:
 
 
Revenues
 
 
FSRU and terminal services
$468,030
$430,843
Gas sales
420,525
Total revenues
888,555
430,843
Operating expenses
 
 
Cost of revenue and vessel operating expenses
192,723
150,478
Direct cost of gas sales
390,518
Depreciation and amortization
104,908
104,167
Selling, general and administrative
47,088
42,942
Restructuring, transition and transaction expenses
13,974
Total operating expenses
749,211
297,587
Operating income
139,344
133,256
Other income (expense)
 
 
Interest expense
(31,892)
(37,460)
Interest expense – related party
(48,922)
(51,970)
Earnings from equity-method investment
3,263
3,094
Other income, net
564
(92)
Income before income taxes
62,357
46,828
Provision for income taxes
(21,168)
(13,937)
Net income
41,189
32,891
Less net income attributable to non-controlling interests
3,035
2,622
Less net income attributable to non-controlling interests – ENE Onshore
(2,964)
(8,484)
Net income attributable to EELP
$41,118
$38,753
Additional financial data:
 
 
Gross Margin
$200,406
$176,198
Adjusted Gross Margin
305,314
280,365
Adjusted EBITDA
262,053
240,425
Adjusted EBITDAR
291,051
256,197
Capital expenditures
36,091
41,258
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As of December 31,
(In thousands)
2021
2020
Balance Sheets Data:
 
 
Property and equipment, net
$1,433,169
$1,501,528
Total assets
2,500,736
2,255,724
Long-term debt (includes current portion)
233,415
262,424
Long-term debt (includes current portion) – related party
198,313
427,193
Total liabilities
1,496,810
1,484,563
 
Year Ended December 31,
(In thousands)
2021
2020
Statements of Cash Flow Data:
 
 
Net cash provided by (used in):
 
 
Operating activities
$141,613
$108,964
Investing activities
(36,091)
(41,258)
Financing activities
$(124,097)
$(31,438)
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
We report our financial results in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”). In addition, management believes that the following non-GAAP financial measures provide investors with additional useful information in evaluating our performance and valuation.
Adjusted Gross Margin
We use Adjusted Gross Margin, a non-GAAP financial measure, which we define as revenues less direct operating expenses, excluding depreciation and amortization, to measure our operational financial performance. Management believes Adjusted Gross Margin is useful to investors because it provides insight on profitability and true operating performance excluding the implications of the historical cost basis of our assets. We also compare Adjusted Gross Margin to our internal projections for a given period and to prior periods. Our computation of Adjusted Gross Margin may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this information.
The following table presents a reconciliation of adjusted gross margin to the GAAP financial measures of gross margin for each of the periods indicated.
 
Year Ended December 31,
(In thousands)
2021
2020
FSRU and terminal services revenues
$468,030
$430,843
Gas sales revenues
420,525
Cost of revenue and vessel operating expenses
192,723
150,478
Direct cost of gas sales
390,518
Depreciation and amortization expense
104,908
104,167
Gross Margin
200,406
176,198
Depreciation and amortization expense
104,908
104,167
Adjusted Gross Margin
$305,314
$280,365
Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDAR
Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure included as a supplemental disclosure because we believe it is a useful indicator of our operating performance. We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, and items such as charges and non-recurring expenses that management does not consider as part of assessing ongoing operating performance. Adjusted EBITDAR is a non-GAAP financial measure included as a supplemental disclosure because we believe it is a valuation measure commonly used by financial statement users to more effectively compare the results of our operations from period to period and against
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other companies without regard to our financing methods or capital structure. We define Adjusted EBITDAR as Adjusted EBITDA adjusted to eliminate the effects of rental expenses for vessels and other infrastructure, which are normal, recurring cash operating expenses necessary to operate our business.
We adjust net income (loss) for the items listed above to arrive at Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDAR because these amounts can vary substantially from company to company within our industry depending upon accounting methods and book values of assets, capital structures and the method by which the assets were acquired. Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDAR should not be considered as alternatives to, or more meaningful than, net income (loss) as determined in accordance with GAAP or as indicators of our operating performance or liquidity. These measures have limitations as certain excluded items are significant components in understanding and assessing a company’s financial performance, such as a company’s cost of capital and tax structure, as well as the historic costs of depreciable assets, none of which are components of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDAR. Adjusted EBITDAR should not be viewed as a measure of overall performance or considered in isolation or as an alternative to net income because it excludes rental expenses for vessels and other infrastructure, which is a normal, recurring cash operating expense that is necessary to operate our business. Our presentation of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDAR should not be construed as an inference that our results will be unaffected by unusual or non-recurring items. Our computations of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDAR may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. For the foregoing reasons, each of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDAR has significant limitations which affect its use as an indicator of our profitability and valuation. Accordingly, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this information.
The following table presents a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDAR to the GAAP financial measure of net income (loss) for each of the periods indicated:
 
Year Ended December 31,
(In thousands)
2021
2020
Net income
$41,189
$32,891
Interest expense
80,814
89,430
Provision for income taxes
21,168
13,937
Depreciation and amortization expense
104,908
104,167
Restructuring, transition and transaction expenses
13,974
Adjusted EBITDA
262,053
240,425
Vessel and infrastructure rent expense
28,998
15,772
Adjusted EBITDAR
$291,051
$256,197
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RISK FACTORS
Investing in our Class A common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following risks and uncertainties described below, together with all other information contained in this prospectus, including our consolidated financial statements and the related notes appearing at the end of this prospectus, before deciding to invest in our Class A common stock. The occurrence of any of the following risks, as well as any risks or uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently do not believe to be material, could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flow, in which case, the trading price of our Class A common stock could decline and you could lose all or part of your investment. Some statements in this prospectus, including statements in the following risk factors, constitute forward-looking statements. See “Forward-Looking Statements.”
Risks Related to Our Business
Our business relies on the performance by customers under current long-term contracts or contracts we will enter into in the future, and we could be materially and adversely affected if any customer fails to perform its contractual obligations for any reason, including nonpayment and nonperformance, or if we fail to enter into such contracts at all.
A significant amount of our revenue is generated currently from time charter contracts for FSRUs and terminal use agreements for LNG terminals with a small number of customers. Accordingly, our near-term ability to generate cash is dependent on our customers’ continued willingness and ability to continue purchasing our services and to perform their obligations under their respective contracts. Their obligations may include certain nomination or operational responsibilities, construction or maintenance of their own facilities which are necessary to enable us to deliver regasification services, or compliance with certain contractual representations and warranties in addition to payment of fees for use of our facilities. For more information regarding the material terms of the contracts with our customers, see “Business—Customers,” and for more information regarding the risks related to termination of the contracts with our customers, see “—Our contracts with our customers are subject to termination under certain circumstances,” immediately below.
Our credit procedures and policies may be inadequate to eliminate risks of nonpayment and nonperformance. In assessing customer credit risk, we use various procedures including background checks which we perform on our potential customers before we enter into a long-term contract with them. As part of the background check, we assess a potential customer’s credit profile and financial position, which can include their operating results, liquidity and outstanding debt, and certain macroeconomic factors regarding the region(s) in which they operate. These procedures help us to assess appropriately customer credit risk on a case-by-case basis, but these procedures may not be effective in assessing credit risk in all instances. As part of our business strategy, we intend to target customers who have not been traditional purchasers of regasified LNG, including customers in developing countries, and these customers may have greater credit risk than typical regasified LNG purchasers. Additionally, we may face difficulties in enforcing our contractual rights against contractual counterparties, including due to the cost and time involved in resolution of disputes by arbitration and litigation, difficulty in enforcing international arbitration awards particularly in situations where all or most of a counterparty’s assets are located in its home jurisdiction and involuntary submission to local courts notwithstanding contract clauses providing for international arbitration.
Our contracts with our customers are subject to termination under certain circumstances.
Our contracts with our customers contain various termination rights. For example, each of our long-term customer contracts contains various termination rights, including, without limitation:
at the end of a specified time period following certain events of force majeure or the outbreak of war;
extended unexcused service interruptions or deficiencies;
loss of or requisition of the FSRU;
the occurrence of an insolvency event; and
the occurrence of certain uncured, material breaches.
Additionally, some customers may terminate their contracts in advance upon expiration of a specified time period and payment of associated early termination fees.
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We may not be able to replace these contracts on desirable terms, or at all, if they are terminated prior to the end of their terms. Contracts that we enter into in the future may contain similar provisions. In addition, our customers may choose not to extend existing contracts. As a result, we may have an underutilized fleet and additionally, under charters for any FSRUs we do not own, we will still be obligated to make payments to their owners regardless of use. If any of our current or future contracts are terminated prior to the end of their terms, such termination could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flows, liquidity and prospects.
The operation of FSRUs and other LNG infrastructure assets is inherently risky, and an incident involving health, safety, property or environmental consequences involving any of our vessels could harm our reputation, business and financial condition.
Our vessels, the LNG and natural gas onboard and our other facilities are at risk of being damaged or lost because of events such as:
marine disasters;
piracy;
environmental incidents;
bad weather;
mechanical failures;
grounding, fire, explosions and collisions;
human error; and
war and terrorism.
An accident or incident involving any of our vessels or other facilities could result in any of the following:
death or injury to persons, loss of property or damage to the environment, natural resources or protected species, and associated costs;
delays in taking delivery of an LNG cargo or discharging regasified LNG, as applicable;
suspension or termination of customer contracts, and resulting loss of revenues;
governmental fines, penalties or restrictions on conducting business;
higher insurance rates; and
damage to our reputation and customer relationships generally.
Any of these results could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If our vessels or other facilities suffer damage, they may need to be repaired. The costs of vessel and other infrastructure repairs are unpredictable and can be substantial. We may have to pay repair costs that our insurance policies do not cover, for example, due to insufficient coverage amounts or the refusal by our insurance provider to pay a claim. The loss of earnings while these vessels or other facilities are being repaired, as well as the actual cost of these repairs not otherwise covered by insurance, would materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Environmental, health and safety performance is critical to the success of all areas of our business. Any failure in environmental, health and safety performance may result in penalties for non-compliance with relevant regulatory requirements or litigation, and a failure that results in a significant environmental, health and safety incident is likely to be costly in terms of potential liabilities. Such a failure could generate public concern and negative media coverage and have a corresponding impact on our reputation and our relationships with relevant regulatory agencies and local communities, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
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We may experience operational problems with vessels or our other facilities that could reduce revenue, increase costs or lead to termination of our customer contracts.
FSRUs and LNG import terminals are complex and their operations are technically challenging. The operation of our FSRUs and LNG import terminals may be subject to mechanical risks. Operational problems may lead to loss of revenue or higher than anticipated operating expenses or require additional capital expenditures. Moreover, pursuant to each customer contract, our FSRUs or LNG terminals, as applicable, must maintain certain specified performance standards, which may include a guaranteed delivery of regasified LNG, consumption of no more than a specified amount of fuel or a requirement not to exceed a maximum average daily boil-off. If we fail to maintain these standards, we may be liable to our customers for reduced hire, damages and certain liquidated damages payable under the charterer’s contract with its customer, and in certain circumstances, our customers may terminate their respective contracts with us. Any of these results could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may experience cancellations, time delays, unforeseen expenses and other complications while developing our projects. These complications can delay the commencement of revenue-generating activities, reduce the amount of revenue we earn and increase our development costs.
Development projects, including our regasification terminals and other downstream infrastructure, are often developed in multiple stages involving commercial and governmental negotiations, site planning, due diligence, permit requests, environmental impact studies, permit applications and review, marine logistics planning and transportation and end-user delivery logistics. These types of projects are subject to a number of risks that may lead to delay, increased costs and decreased economic attractiveness. These risks are often increased in foreign jurisdictions, where legal processes, language differences, cultural expectations, currency exchange requirements, political relations with the U.S. government, changes in administrations, new regulations, regulatory reviews, employment laws and diligence requirements can make it more difficult, time-consuming and expensive to develop a project.
A primary focus of our business is the development of projects in foreign jurisdictions, including in jurisdictions where we may not have significant experience, and we expect to continue expanding into new jurisdictions in the future. Our inexperience in certain jurisdictions creates a meaningful risk that we may experience delays, unforeseen expenses or other obstacles that will cause the projects we are developing to take longer and be more expensive than our initial estimates.
While we plan our projects carefully and attempt to complete them according to timelines and budgets that we believe are feasible, we have experienced time delays and cost overruns in certain projects that we have developed previously and may experience similar issues with future projects given the inherent complexity and unpredictability of developing infrastructure projects. As a result of any one of these factors, any significant development delay, whatever the cause, could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, cash flows and liquidity.
When we invest significant capital to develop a project, we are subject to the risk that the project is not successfully developed and that our customers do not fulfill their payment obligations to us following our capital investment in a project.
A key part of our business strategy is to attract new customers. This strategy requires us to invest capital and time to develop a project in exchange for the ability to sell natural gas, LNG and/or power and generate fees from customers in the future. When we develop large scale projects, our required capital expenditure may be significant, and we typically do not generate meaningful revenues from customers until the project has commenced commercial operations, which may take a year or more to achieve. If the project is not successfully developed for any reason, we face the risk of not recovering some or all of our invested capital, which may be significant. If the project is successfully developed, we face the risks that our customers may not fulfill their payment obligations or may not fulfill other performance obligations that impact our ability to collect payment. Our customer contracts and development agreements do not fully protect us against this risk and, in some instances, may not provide any meaningful protection from this risk. This risk is heightened in foreign jurisdictions, particularly if our counterparty is a government or government-related entity because any attempt to enforce our contractual or other rights may involve long and costly arbitration or litigation where the ultimate outcome is uncertain.
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If we invest capital in a project where we do not receive the payments we expect, we will have less capital to invest in other projects, our liquidity, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected, and we could face the inability to comply with the terms of our existing debt or other agreements, which would exacerbate these adverse effects.
We have not yet completed contracting, construction and commissioning of certain of our planned regasification terminals and other facilities, including natural gas pipelines and power plants. There can be no assurance that our regasification terminals and other facilities will operate as expected, or at all.
We have not yet entered into binding construction contracts, received a “final notice to proceed” or obtained all necessary environmental, regulatory, construction and zoning permissions for all of our planned regasification terminals and other facilities. There can be no assurance that we will be able to enter into the contracts required for the development of these regasification terminals and other facilities on commercially favorable terms, if at all, or that we will be able to obtain all of the environmental, regulatory, construction and zoning permissions we need. In particular, we will require approval from local authorities where our regasification terminals and other facilities necessary for the delivery of natural gas, LNG or power to our customers will be located. If we are unable to enter into favorable contracts or to obtain the necessary regulatory and land use approvals on favorable terms, we may not be able to construct and operate these assets as expected, or at all. Additionally, the construction of these kinds of facilities is inherently subject to the risks of cost overruns and delays. There can be no assurance that we will not need to make adjustments to our regasification terminals and other facilities as a result of the required testing or commissioning of each project, which could cause delays and be costly. If we are unable to construct, commission and operate all of our regasification terminals and other facilities as expected, or, when and if constructed, they do not accomplish our goals, or if we experience delays or cost overruns in construction, our business, operating results, cash flows and liquidity could be materially and adversely affected. Expenses related to our pursuit of contracts and regulatory approvals related to our regasification terminals and other facilities still under development may be significant and will be incurred by us regardless of whether these assets are ultimately constructed and operational.
We must make substantial expenditures to maintain and replace, over the long-term, the operating capacity of our fleet, regasification terminals and associated assets, pipelines and downstream infrastructure, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We must make substantial expenditures and investments to maintain and replace, over the long-term, the operating capacity of our fleet, pipelines, regasification terminals and associated assets, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Repairs, maintenance and replacement capital expenditures include expenditures associated with drydocking a vessel, modifying an existing vessel or regasification terminal, acquiring a new vessel, regasification terminal or downstream infrastructure or otherwise repairing or replacing current vessels, regasification terminals and associated assets or downstream infrastructure, at the end of their useful lives. These expenditures could vary significantly from quarter to quarter and could increase as a result of changes in:
the cost of labor and materials;
customer requirements;
fleet and project size;
the cost of replacement vessels;
length of charters;
governmental regulations and maritime self-regulatory organization standards relating to safety, security or the environment;
competitive standards; and
operating conditions, including adverse weather events, sea currents and natural disasters impacting performance, required maintenance and repair intervals and spending.
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We expect to be dependent on our EPC contractors and other contractors for the successful completion of our energy-related infrastructure.
Timely and cost-effective completion of our energy-related infrastructure, including our planned regasification terminals and other infrastructure, as well as future projects, in compliance with agreed specifications is central to our business strategy and is highly dependent on the performance of our primary EPC contractor and our other contractors under our agreements with them. The ability of our primary EPC contractor and our other contractors to perform successfully under their agreements with us is dependent on a number of factors, including their ability to:
design and engineer each of our facilities to operate in accordance with specifications;
engage and retain third-party subcontractors and procure equipment and supplies;
respond to difficulties such as equipment failure, delivery delays, schedule changes and failures to perform by subcontractors, some of which are beyond their control;
attract, develop and retain skilled personnel, including engineers;
post required construction bonds and comply with the terms thereof;
manage the construction process generally, including coordinating with other contractors and regulatory agencies; and
maintain their own financial condition, including adequate working capital.
Until and unless we have entered into an EPC contract for a particular project in which the EPC contractor agrees to meet our planned schedule and projected total costs for a project, we are subject to potential fluctuations in construction costs and other related project costs. Although some agreements may provide for liquidated damages if the contractor fails to perform in the manner required with respect to certain of its obligations, the events that trigger a requirement to pay liquidated damages may delay or impair the operation of the applicable facility, and any liquidated damages that we receive may be delayed or insufficient to cover the damages that we suffer as a result of any such delay or impairment.
We expect the obligations of our future EPC contractors and our other contractors to pay liquidated damages under their agreements with us to be subject to caps on liability. Furthermore, we may have disagreements with our contractors about different elements of the construction process, which could lead to the assertion of rights and remedies under their contracts and increase the cost of the applicable facility or result in a contractor’s unwillingness to perform further work. We may hire contractors to perform work in jurisdictions where they do not have previous experience, or contractors we have not previously hired to perform work in jurisdictions where we are beginning to develop projects, which may lead to such contractors being unable to perform according to their respective agreements. If any contractor is unable or unwilling to perform according to the negotiated terms and timetable of its respective agreement for any reason or terminates its agreement for any reason, we would be required to engage a substitute contractor, which could be particularly difficult in certain of the markets in which we plan to operate. This would likely result in significant project delays and increased costs, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
In addition, if our future contractors are unable or unwilling to perform according to their respective agreements with us, our projects may be delayed and we may face contractual consequences in our agreements with our customers, including for development services, the supply of natural gas or LNG and the supply of power. We may be required to pay liquidated damages, face increased expenses or reduced revenue, and may face issues complying with certain covenants in such customer contracts or in our financings. Our contracts may not provide for our contractors to compensate us fully for such payments and other consequences.
A shortage of qualified officers and crew could have an adverse effect on our business and financial condition.
FSRUs and LNGCs require technically skilled officers and crews with specialized training. As the worldwide FSRU and LNGC fleet has grown, the demand for technically skilled officers and crews has increased, which could lead to a shortage of such personnel. A material decrease in the supply of technically skilled officers and crew, including as a result of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and government responses thereto, or our inability or that of our vessel managers to attract and retain such qualified officers and crew could impair our ability to operate or increase the cost of crewing our vessels, which would materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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In addition, we operate in certain countries, including Argentina and Brazil, that require us to hire a certain percentage of local personnel to crew the vessels, and we may expand our operations to countries with similar requirements. Any inability to attract and retain qualified local crew members could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We perform development services from time to time, which are subject to a variety of risks unique to these activities.
From time to time, we may agree to provide development or construction services as part of our customer contracts and such services are subject to a variety of risks unique to these activities. If construction costs of a project exceed original estimates, such costs may have to be absorbed by us, thereby making the project less profitable than originally estimated, or possibly not profitable at all. In addition, a construction project may be delayed due to government or regulatory approvals, supply shortages, or other events and circumstances beyond our control, or the time required to complete a construction project may be greater than originally anticipated.
We rely on third-party subcontractors and equipment manufacturers to complete many of our projects. To the extent that we cannot engage subcontractors or acquire equipment or materials in the amounts and at the costs originally estimated, our ability to complete a project in a timely fashion or at a profit may be impaired. If the amount we are required to pay for these goods and services exceeds the amount we have estimated in bidding for fixed-price contracts, we could experience losses in the performance of these contracts. In addition, if a subcontractor or a manufacturer is unable to deliver its services, equipment or materials according to the negotiated terms for any reason including, but not limited to, the deterioration of its financial condition, we may be required to purchase the services, equipment or materials from another source at a higher price. This may reduce the profit we expect to realize or result in a loss on a project for which the services, equipment or materials were needed.
If any such excess costs or project delays were to be material, such events may adversely affect our cash flow and liquidity.
Failure to obtain and maintain approvals and permits from governmental and regulatory agencies with respect to the design, construction and operation of our facilities and provision of our services, including the import of LNG and sale of gas, could impede project development and operations and construction and could have a material adverse effect on us.
The design, construction and operation of LNG terminals, natural gas pipelines, power plants and other facilities, and the import of LNG and the sale and transportation of natural gas, are regulated activities. We will be required to obtain permits and licenses according to local regulatory authorities with respect to any new construction, expansion or modification of our facilities, and maintain or renew current permits and licenses on the same terms as our existing facilities. We cannot control the outcome of the regulatory review and approval processes. Certain of these governmental permits, approvals and authorizations are or may be subject to rehearing requests, appeals and other challenges.
There is no assurance that we will obtain and maintain or renew these governmental permits, approvals and authorizations, or that we will be able to obtain them on a timely basis, and failure to obtain and maintain any of these permits, approvals or authorizations could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
Our future growth depends upon our ability to maintain relationships with our customers and existing suppliers, source new suppliers for LNG and critical components of our projects and complete building out our supply chain, while effectively managing the risks arising from such relationships.
Our success will be dependent upon our ability to enter into or renew contracts with our customers for regasification services and gas supply agreements (“GSAs”) now and in the future and supply agreements with suppliers of LNG and critical components for our projects, as well as to maintain our relationships or form new relationships with customers, LNG suppliers or suppliers who are critical and necessary to our business and the development of energy-related infrastructure projects. In 2021 and 2020, two customers and six customers, respectively, each accounted for over 10% of our revenues. Our dependence on a small number of customers means that a loss of, or other adverse actions by, any one of these customers would reduce our revenues and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. We also rely on a group of suppliers to provide us with certain goods and services for our projects. The supply agreements we have or may enter into with
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key suppliers in the future may have provisions where such agreements can be terminated in various circumstances, including potentially without cause, or may not provide for access to supplies in accordance with our timeline or budget. If these suppliers become unable to provide, experience delays in providing or impose significant increases in the cost of LNG or critical components for our projects, or if the supply agreements we have in place are terminated, it may be difficult to find replacement supplies of LNG and critical components for our projects on similar terms or at all. Changes in business conditions, pandemics, governmental changes and other factors beyond our control or that we do not presently anticipate could affect our ability to receive LNG and critical components from our suppliers.
If third-party pipelines and other facilities interconnected to our pipelines and facilities are or become unavailable to transport or receive natural gas, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
For some of our proposed development projects, we will depend upon third-party pipelines, power plants and other facilities that provide gas receipt and delivery downstream of our integrated terminals. If the construction of new or modified pipeline connections, power plants or other facilities is not completed on schedule or any pipeline connection, power plant or other facility were to become unavailable for current or future volumes of natural gas due to repairs, damage to the facility, lack of capacity or any other reason, our ability to meet our obligations and continue shipping natural gas from our terminals to end markets could be restricted, thereby reducing our revenues which could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
We may not be able to purchase or receive physical delivery of LNG in sufficient quantities to satisfy our delivery obligations under GSAs or at attractive prices.
Under GSAs with current and future customers, we are or will be required to deliver to our customers specified amounts of regasified LNG at specified times, which requires us to obtain sufficient amounts of LNG. We may, however, not be able to purchase or receive physical delivery of sufficient quantities of LNG to satisfy those delivery obligations, which may provide customers with the right to terminate their respective GSAs and/or to seek damages. In addition, price fluctuations in LNG may make it expensive or uneconomic for us to acquire supply to meet our gas delivery obligations under our GSAs. Higher LNG prices could enhance the risk of nonpayment by customers who are not able to pass the higher costs to their customers.
We may be dependent on third-party LNG suppliers and shippers and other tankers and facilities to provide delivery to and from our FSRUs. If LNG were to become unavailable due to repairs or damage to supplier facilities or tankers, lack of capacity, impediments to international shipping or any other reason, our ability to continue delivering regasified LNG to end-users could be restricted, thereby reducing our revenues and/or providing customers with termination rights and/or damages under their GSAs. Because the factors affecting the supply and demand of LNG are outside of our control and are unpredictable, the nature, timing, direction and degree of changes in industry conditions are also unpredictable. Additional risks to the physical delivery of LNG include natural disasters, mechanical failures, grounding, fire, explosions and collisions, piracy, human error and war, sanctions and terrorism.
If market disruptions and bankruptcies of third-party LNG suppliers and shippers negatively impact our ability to purchase a sufficient amount of LNG or significantly increases our costs for purchasing LNG, our business, operating results, cash flows and liquidity could be materially and adversely affected.
Cyclical or other changes in the demand for and price of LNG and natural gas and LNG regasification capacity may adversely affect our business and the performance of our customers and could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flows, liquidity and prospects.
Our business and the development of energy-related infrastructure and projects generally is based on assumptions about the future availability and price of natural gas and LNG and the prospects for international and domestic natural gas and LNG markets. Natural gas and LNG prices and demand for and price of LNG regasification capacity have at various times been and may become volatile due to one or more of the following factors:
additions to competitive regasification capacity;
insufficient or oversupply of natural gas liquefaction or export capacity worldwide;
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insufficient LNG tanker capacity;
weather conditions and natural disasters;
reduced demand and lower prices for natural gas over an extended period;
higher LNG prices, which could make other fuels more competitive in the markets where we operate;
increased natural gas production deliverable by pipelines in the markets where we operate, which could suppress demand for LNG;
decreased oil and natural gas exploration activities, including shut-ins and possible proration, which have begun and may continue to decrease the production of natural gas available for liquefaction;
cost improvements that allow competitors to offer LNG regasification services at reduced prices;
changes in supplies of, and prices for, alternative energy sources, such as coal, oil, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind and solar energy, which may reduce the demand for natural gas;
changes in regulatory, tax or other governmental policies regarding imported or exported LNG, natural gas or alternative energy sources, which may reduce the demand for imported LNG or natural gas in the markets where we operate;
political conditions;
adverse relative demand for LNG compared to other markets;
changes in economic conditions of countries where we operate or purchase or sell LNG and natural gas; and
cyclical trends in general business and economic conditions that cause changes in the demand for natural gas.
The market for LNG regasification services is competitive, and we may not be able to compete successfully, which would adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
The market for LNG regasification services in which we operate is competitive, especially with respect to the securing of long-term contracts. New competitors could enter the market for FSRUs and operate larger fleets through consolidations, acquisitions or the purchase of new vessels and may be able to offer lower rates and more modern fleets. Competition may also prevent us from achieving our goal of profitably expanding into other parts of the natural gas value chain.
We typically enter into long-term, fixed-rate regasification contracts either in the form of time charters or terminal use agreements with our customers. The process of securing new long-term regasification contracts is highly competitive and generally involves an intensive screening process and competitive bids, often lasting for several months. Regasification contracts are awarded based upon a variety of factors relating to the vessel operator, including, but not limited to:
FSRU experience and quality of ship operations;
shipping industry relationships and reputation for customer service and safety;
technical ability and reputation for operation of highly specialized vessels, including FSRUs;
quality and experience of seafaring crew;
financial stability;
construction management experience, including (i) relationships with shipyards and the ability to secure suitable berths and (ii) the ability to obtain on-time delivery of new FSRUs according to customer specifications;
willingness to accept operational and other risks, such as allowing customer termination rights for extended operational failures and force majeure events;
the ability to commence operations quickly; and
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price competitiveness.
We expect substantial competition for providing flexible storage and regasification services for LNG import projects from a number of experienced companies, including state-sponsored entities and major energy companies. We anticipate that an increasing number of marine transportation companies, including many with strong reputations and extensive resources and experience, will enter the FSRU market and LNG transportation market. This increased competition may cause greater price competition for LNG regasification contracts. As a result of these factors, we may be unable to expand our relationships with existing customers or obtain new customers on a profitable basis, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Hire rates for FSRUs may fluctuate substantially, and lower rates could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Hire rates for FSRUs fluctuate over time as a result of changes in the supply-demand balance relating to current and future vessel supply. This supply-demand relationship largely depends on a number of factors outside our control. For example, driven in part by an increase in LNG production capacity, the market supply of FSRUs has been increasing as a result of the construction of new vessels before LNG import projects have matured to the point of entering into regasification contracts. The increase in supply has resulted in increased competition for these contracts, thereby resulting in lower FSRU prices for recent contracts awarded. Since the FSRU Excelsior, the first FSRU, was delivered to us in 2005, the worldwide fleet of FSRUs with storage greater than 50,000 cubic meters has grown to 46 vessels as of December 31, 2021. We believe any future expansion of the global FSRU fleet may have a negative impact on charter hire rates, vessel utilization and vessel values, which impact could be amplified if the expansion of LNG production capacity, demand for natural gas or the development of new FSRU projects does not keep pace with the growth of the global fleet. The LNG market is also closely connected to worldwide natural gas prices and energy markets, which we cannot predict. An extended decline in natural gas prices that leads to reduced investment in new liquefaction facilities could adversely affect our ability to re-charter our vessels at acceptable rates or to acquire and profitably operate new FSRUs. Accordingly, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
One of our primary strategies is to enter into new long-term regasification contracts and to replace expiring contracts with similarly long-term contracts. Most new LNG projects continue to require long-term contracts, though the number of short-term time charters of less than 12 months in duration together with medium term charters of up to five years has increased in recent years. This trend is expected to continue as the spot market for LNG expands. More frequent changes to vessel sizes and propulsion technology together with an increasing desire by charterers to access modern tonnage could also reduce the appetite of charterers to commit to long-term charters that match their full requirement period. As a result, the duration of long-term charters could also decrease over time, which could adversely affect the stability of our cash flows.
Our operations may be impacted by, and growth of our business may be limited by, many factors, including infrastructure constraints and community and political group resistance to existing and new LNG and natural gas infrastructure over concerns about the environment, safety and terrorism.
The number of existing LNG import terminal projects is limited, and new or expanded LNG import terminal projects are highly complex and capital intensive. Many factors could negatively affect continued development of LNG-related infrastructure, including floating storage and regasification, or disrupt the supply of LNG, including:
limited downstream infrastructure limiting the development of new or expanded import terminals;
local community resistance to proposed or existing LNG facilities based on safety, environmental or security concerns;
any significant explosion, spill or similar incident involving an LNG facility or vessel involved in the LNG transportation, storage and regasification industry, including an FSRU or LNGC; and
labor or political unrest affecting existing or proposed sites for LNG regasification terminals.
We expect that, in the event any of the factors discussed above negatively affect us, we may abandon some of our plans to expand existing or develop new LNG regasification terminals and other downstream infrastructure or
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these plans may be significantly delayed. If the LNG supply chain is disrupted or does not continue to grow, or if a significant explosion, spill or similar incident occurs within the LNG transportation, storage and regasification industry, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our ability to implement our business strategy may be materially and adversely affected by many known and unknown factors.
Our business strategy relies upon our future ability to successfully market regasified LNG to end-users, develop and maintain cost-effective logistics in our supply chain and construct, develop and operate energy-related infrastructure in the United States, Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Pakistan, the UAE, and other countries where we do not currently operate. Our strategy assumes that we will be able to expand our operations into other countries, enter into long-term GSAs or power purchase agreements with end-users, acquire and transport LNG at attractive prices, develop infrastructure, as well as other future projects, into efficient and profitable operations in a timely and cost-effective way, obtain approvals from all relevant federal, state and local authorities, as needed, for the construction and operation of these projects and other relevant approvals and obtain long-term capital appreciation and liquidity with respect to such investments. We cannot assure you if or when we will enter into contracts for the sale of regasified LNG, the price at which we will be able to sell such regasified LNG or our costs of procuring LNG. Thus, there can be no assurance that we will achieve our target pricing, costs or margins. Our strategy may also be affected by future governmental laws and regulations. Our strategy also assumes that we will be able to enter into strategic relationships with gas customers, energy end-users, power utilities, LNG providers, shipping companies, infrastructure developers, financing counterparties and other partners. These assumptions are subject to significant economic, competitive, regulatory and operational uncertainties, contingencies and risks, many of which are beyond our control. Additionally, in furtherance of our business strategy, we may acquire operating businesses or other assets in the future. Any such acquisitions would be subject to significant risks and contingencies, including the risk of integration, and we may not be able to realize the benefits of any such acquisitions.
Additionally, our strategy may evolve over time. Our future ability to execute our business strategy is uncertain, and it can be expected that one or more of our assumptions will prove to be incorrect and that we will face unanticipated events and circumstances that may adversely affect our business. Any one or more of the following factors may have a material adverse effect on our ability to implement our strategy and achieve our targets:
inability to achieve our target costs or our target pricing for long-term contracts;
failure to develop cost-effective logistics solutions;
failure to manage expanding operations in the projected time frame;
failure to win new bids or contracts on the terms, size and within the time frame we need to execute our business strategy;
inability to attract and retain personnel in a timely and cost-effective manner;
failure of investments in technology and machinery, such as regasification technology, to perform as expected;
increases in competition which could increase our costs and undermine our profits;
inability to source LNG in sufficient quantities and/or at economically attractive prices;
failure to anticipate and adapt to new trends in the energy sector of the countries where we operate;
increases in operating costs, including the need for repairs and maintenance, capital improvements, insurance premiums, general taxes, real estate taxes and utilities or other costs that affect our profit margins;
inability to raise significant additional debt and equity capital in the future to implement our strategy as well as to operate and expand our business;
general economic, political and business conditions in the United States, Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Israel, Pakistan, the UAE and in the other geographic areas in which we operate or intend to operate;
inflation, depreciation of the currencies of the countries in which we operate and fluctuations in interest rates;
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failure to obtain approvals from governmental regulators and relevant local authorities for the construction and operation of potential future projects and other relevant approvals;
existing and future governmental laws and regulations;
inability, or failure, of any customer or contract counterparty to perform their contractual obligations to us; or
uncertainty regarding the timing, pace and extent of an economic recovery in the United States, the other jurisdictions in which we operate and elsewhere, which in turn will likely affect demand for crude oil and natural gas.
If we experience any of these failures, such failure may adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and ability to execute our business strategy.
Outbreaks of epidemic and pandemic diseases and governmental responses thereto could adversely affect our business.
Our operations are subject to risks related to outbreaks of infectious diseases, including the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, which has been spreading around the world since December 2019. Many countries worldwide, affected by the outbreak, declared national emergencies due to the outbreak. The Covid-19 outbreak has negatively affected economic conditions and caused energy prices to become more volatile. The Covid-19 outbreak also negatively affected the supply chain, the labor market and the demand for LNG regionally as well as globally and may otherwise impact our operations and the operations of our customers and suppliers. Governments in affected countries have been imposing and may continue to impose travel bans, quarantines and other emergency public health measures. These measures, though temporary in nature, may continue and increase as countries attempt to contain the outbreak.
The extent of the Covid-19 outbreak’s effect on our operational and financial performance will depend on future developments, including the duration, spread and intensity of the outbreak, all of which are uncertain and difficult to predict considering the evolving landscape. To date, our operations have been impacted by Covid-19, including in the following ways:
crew changes have been canceled or delayed due to port authorities denying or delaying disembarkation, a high potential of infection in countries where crew changes may otherwise have taken place, and the inability to repatriate crew members due to lack of international air transport or denial of re-entry by crew members’ home countries that have closed their borders;
the inability to complete scheduled engine overhauls, routine maintenance work and management of equipment malfunctions;
shortages or a lack of access to required spare parts for our vessels, and delays in repairs to, or scheduled or unscheduled maintenance or modifications or dry docking of, our vessels, as a result of a lack of berths available at shipyards from a shortage in labor at shipyards or contractors or due to other business disruptions;
necessity to find new, remote means to complete vessel inspections and related certifications by class societies, customers or government agencies; and
disruptions to our business from, or additional costs related to, new regulations, directives or practices implemented in response to the pandemic, such as travel restrictions, increased inspection regimes, hygiene measures (such as quarantining and physical distancing) or increased implementation of remote working arrangements.
Given the recent fluidity of developments and the extensive response to the outbreak, we are continually receiving updated information and are constantly reassessing the impact of Covid-19 on our operations. Measures that we have taken during the course of the pandemic to manage our response to Covid-19 include:
managing crew rotations depending on the duration and severity of Covid-19 in countries from which our crews are sourced as well as any restrictions in place at ports in which our vessels call;
providing financial support to Excelerate Technical Management (“ETM”) employees while on shore leave;
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under maritime standards and the Maritime Labour Convention, on a case-by-case basis, providing financial assistance to seafarers on shore as necessary;
arranging to accept delivery of additional spare parts and critical supplies where possible in our supply chains;
postponing or cancelling planned engine overhaul and routine maintenance services where possible, and arranging for remote servicing of equipment when possible;
cancelling non-critical boardings, limiting visits to vettings inspectors, pilots, critical service engineers and port officials where allowed and implementing procedures and mitigation controls on board to limit the risk of human-to-human transmission from visiting personnel;
more extensively using remote ship visits by our management and support functions;
monitoring applicable local legislation and social distancing guidelines related to minimizing human-to-human transmission, IT systems and network capacity and financial reporting systems and internal controls over financial reporting;
providing mental health support for our seafarers and global workforce through membership in organizations providing hotline support and introducing a forum for virtual sharing and collaboration on mental health concerns; and
permitting flexible working arrangements for our people, encouraging full vaccination status of all employees/seafarers and postponing non-critical projects.
Potential worker shortages due to the Covid-19 outbreak and travel and social distancing restrictions imposed by governments or corporate policies could impose constraints on our ability to comply with deadlines and requirements set forth in environmental laws and regulations to which our operations are subject, including inspection, monitoring, reporting, certification and training requirements. Although some environmental authorities have indicated they may exercise enforcement discretion with respect to non-compliance with routine obligations caused by Covid-19, there can be no assurance that enforcement discretion will be exercised in the event we are unable to comply with environmental laws and regulations. For a discussion of environmental laws and regulations affecting our business and operations, please see “Business—Government Regulation—Environmental Regulation.”
In addition, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, including governmental and other third-party responses thereto, on our customers could enhance the risk of nonpayment by such customers under our contracts and negatively affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Failure to control the continued spread of Covid-19 could significantly impact economic activity and demand for our vessels and services and could negatively affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and liquidity.
We may be subject to litigation, arbitration or other claims which could materially and adversely affect us.
We may in the future be subject to litigation and enforcement actions, such as claims relating to our operations, securities offerings and otherwise in the ordinary course of business. Some of these claims may result in significant defense costs and potentially significant judgments against us, some of which are not, or cannot be, insured against. In the event of any litigation or enforcement action, we would establish warranty, claim or litigation reserves that we believe are adequate; we cannot be certain, however, of the ultimate outcomes of any claims that may arise in the future, and legal proceedings may result in the award of substantial damages against us beyond our reserves. Resolution of these types of matters against us may result in our having to pay significant fines, judgments or settlements, which, if uninsured or in excess of insured levels, could adversely impact our earnings and cash flows, thereby materially and adversely affecting us. Furthermore, plaintiffs may in certain of these legal proceedings seek class action status with potential class sizes that vary from case to case. Class action lawsuits can be costly to defend, and if we were to lose any certified class action suit, it could result in substantial liability for us. Certain litigation or the resolution thereof may affect the availability or cost of some of our insurance coverage, which could materially and adversely impact us, expose us to increased risks that would be uninsured, and materially and adversely impact our ability to attract directors and officers.
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If our trademarks, service marks and trade names are not adequately protected, we may not be able to build or maintain name recognition in our markets of interest, and our competitive position may be harmed.
The registered or unregistered trademarks, service marks or trade names (collectively, “trademarks”) that we own may be challenged, infringed, circumvented, declared generic or descriptive, lapsed or determined to be infringing on or dilutive of other marks. During trademark registration proceedings, we may receive rejections of our applications by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”), or in other foreign jurisdictions. Although we are given an opportunity to respond to such rejections, we may be unable to overcome them. In addition, in the USPTO and in comparable agencies in many foreign jurisdictions, third parties are given an opportunity to oppose pending trademark applications and to seek to cancel registered trademarks. Opposition or cancellation proceedings may be filed against our trademarks, which may not survive such proceedings. Furthermore, owning and maintaining a trademark registration may not provide an adequate defense against a subsequent infringement claim asserted by the owner of a senior trademark. We may not be able to protect our rights in these trademarks, which we need in order to build name recognition with potential customers. In addition, third parties may file for registration of trademarks similar or identical to our trademarks, thereby impeding our ability to build brand identity and possibly leading to market confusion and loss of goodwill. If they succeed in registering or developing common-law rights in such trademarks, and if we are not successful in challenging such third-party rights, we may not be able to use these trademarks to develop brand recognition of our technologies, products or services. In addition, there could be potential trademark infringement or unfair competition claims brought by owners of other registered trademarks or trademarks that incorporate variations of our registered or unregistered trademarks. Over the long term, if we are unable to establish name recognition based on our trademarks, we may not be able to compete effectively, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
If we cannot obtain, maintain, protect or enforce the intellectual property rights on which our business depends, or if third parties assert that we violate their intellectual property rights, our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations, cash flow and liquidity may be adversely impacted.
We rely upon patent and trademark laws in the United States and similar laws in other countries, and non-disclosure, confidentiality and other types of agreements with our employees, customers, suppliers and other parties, to establish, maintain and enforce our intellectual property rights. Such means may afford only limited protection of our intellectual property and may not (i) prevent our competitors from duplicating our processes or technology; (ii) prevent our competitors from gaining access to our proprietary information and technology; or (iii) permit us to gain or maintain a competitive advantage. Various factors outside our control pose a threat to our intellectual property rights, as well as to our products, services and technologies. For example, we may fail to obtain effective intellectual property protection, or the efforts we have taken to protect our intellectual property rights may not be sufficient or effective, and any of our intellectual property rights may be challenged, which could result in them being narrowed in scope or declared invalid or unenforceable. Even if we are to obtain issuance of further patents or registration of other intellectual property, such intellectual property could be subjected to attacks on ownership, validity, enforceability, or other legal attacks.
Further, the laws of certain countries, including countries where we have not applied for patent protection or trademark or other intellectual property registration, may not be as protective of intellectual property and proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States, and mechanisms for enforcement of intellectual property and proprietary rights may be inadequate. Therefore, in certain jurisdictions, we may be unable to protect our proprietary technology adequately against unauthorized third party copying, infringement or use, which could adversely affect our competitive position. Filing, prosecuting, maintaining, and defending our intellectual property in all countries throughout the world may be prohibitively expensive, and we may choose to forgo such activities in some applicable jurisdictions. The lack of adequate legal protections of intellectual property or failure of legal remedies or related actions in jurisdictions outside of the United States or failure to obtain sufficient intellectual property protection could impede our ability to market our products, negatively affect our competitive position and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
To prevent substantial unauthorized use of our intellectual property and proprietary rights, it may be necessary to prosecute actions for infringement, misappropriation or other violation of our intellectual property and proprietary rights against third parties. Any enforcement of our intellectual property may provoke third parties to assert counterclaims against us. Furthermore, claims of intellectual property infringement also might require us to redesign affected products or services, enter into costly settlement or license agreements or pay costly damage awards, or face a temporary or permanent injunction prohibiting us from marketing or selling certain of our products or services.
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Claims by third parties that we infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate their proprietary technology or other intellectual property rights could harm our business. Our competitors and other third parties hold numerous trademarks, patents, copyrights, trade secrets and other intellectual property rights related to technology used in our industry and may hold or obtain trademarks, patents, copyrights, trade secrets and other intellectual property rights that could prevent, limit or interfere with our ability to make, use, develop, sell or market our products and services, which could make it more difficult for us to operate our business. Our success depends, in part, on our ability to develop our business without infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating the intellectual property or proprietary rights of others. From time to time, we may be subject to claims of infringement, misappropriation, or other violation of patents or other intellectual property rights and related litigation, and if we gain greater recognition in the market, we face a higher risk of being the subject of these types of claims. In addition, if we are found to infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate any third-party intellectual property, we may be required to obtain a license to such third-party intellectual property, pay substantial damages, ongoing royalty or license payments, fees, cease offering our product offering or using certain technologies, require us to redesign affected products, enter into costly settlement or license agreements or pay costly damage awards, or face a temporary or permanent injunction prohibiting us from marketing or selling certain of our products or comply with other unfavorable terms. Furthermore, we could be found liable for treble damages and attorneys’ fees, if we are found to have willfully infringed a patent or other intellectual property right. If we are required to obtain a license from any third party, such license may not be available at all or on commercially reasonable terms. Litigation, whether we are a plaintiff or a defendant, can be expensive and time consuming and may divert the efforts of our management and other personnel, which could harm our business, whether or not such litigation results in a determination favorable to us. Litigation also puts our patents or other intellectual property at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and our patent applications or applications for other intellectual property registrations at risk of not issuing. Additionally, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during any intellectual property-related litigation. Any of the foregoing could cause potential customers to refrain from purchasing our solutions or services or otherwise cause us reputational harm and result in substantial costs, negative publicity and diversion of resources and management attention, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our insurance may be insufficient to cover losses that may occur to our property or result from our operations.
Our current operations and future projects are subject to the inherent risks associated with LNG, natural gas and power operations and other risks, including explosions, pollution, release of toxic substances, fires, seismic events, hurricanes and other adverse weather conditions, and other hazards, each of which could result in significant delays in commencement or interruptions of operations or result in damage to or destruction of our facilities and assets or damage to persons and property. In addition, such operations and the facilities of third parties on which our current operations and future projects may be dependent face possible risks associated with acts of aggression or terrorism. Some of the regions in which we operate are affected by hurricanes or tropical storms. We do not, nor do we intend to, maintain insurance against all of these risks and losses. In particular, we do not carry business interruption insurance for hurricanes and other natural disasters. Therefore, the occurrence of one or more significant events not fully insured or indemnified against could create significant liabilities and losses which could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
We may be unable to procure adequate insurance coverage at commercially reasonable rates in the future. For example, environmental regulations have led in the past to increased costs for, and in the future may result in the lack of availability of, insurance against risks of environmental damage or pollution. A significant release of natural gas, marine disasters or natural disasters could result in losses that exceed our insurance coverage, which could harm our business, financial condition and operating results. Any uninsured or underinsured loss could harm our business and financial condition. In addition, our insurance may be voidable by the insurers as a result of certain of our actions.
We intend to operate in jurisdictions that have experienced and may in the future experience significant political volatility. Our projects and developments could be negatively impacted by political disruption including risks of delays to our development timelines and delays related to regime change in the jurisdictions in which we intend to operate. We maintain industry-standard war risk insurance, but we do not carry political risk insurance currently. If
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we choose to carry political risk insurance in the future, it may not be adequate to protect us from loss, which may include losses as a result of project delays or losses as a result of business interruption related to a political disruption. Any attempt to recover from loss from political disruption may be time-consuming and expensive, and the outcome may be uncertain.
Changes in the insurance markets attributable to terrorist attacks or political change may also make certain types of insurance more difficult for us to obtain. In addition, the insurance that may be available may be significantly more expensive than our existing coverage.
Changes in accounting rules, assumptions and/or judgments could materially and adversely affect us.
Accounting rules and interpretations for certain aspects of our financial reporting are highly complex and involve significant assumptions and judgment. These complexities could lead to a delay in the preparation and dissemination of our financial statements. Furthermore, changes in accounting rules and interpretations or in our accounting assumptions and/or judgments, such as those related to asset impairments, could significantly impact our financial statements. In some cases, we could be required to apply a new or revised standard retroactively, resulting in restating prior period financial statements. Any of these circumstances could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations.
Our operations, including joint ventures, outside of the United States are subject to the risks normally associated with any conduct of business in foreign countries, including varying degrees of political, legal and economic risk.
Our operations, including joint ventures, outside of the United States are subject to the risks normally associated with any conduct of business in foreign countries including: political risks; civil disturbance risks; changes in laws or policies of particular countries, including those relating to duties, imports, exports and currency; the cancellation or renegotiation of contracts; the imposition of net profits payments, tax increases or other claims by government entities, including retroactive claims; a disregard for due process and the rule of law by local authorities; the risk of intervention, expropriation and nationalization; delays in obtaining or the inability to obtain necessary governmental permits or the reimbursement of refundable tax from fiscal authorities.
Threats or instability in a country caused by political events including elections, change in government, changes in personnel or legislative bodies, foreign relations, sanctions or military control present serious political and social risk and instability causing interruptions to the flow of business negotiations and influencing relationships with government officials. Changes in policy or law may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. The risks include increased “unpaid” state participation, higher taxation levels and potential expropriation.
Other risks include the potential for fraud and corruption by suppliers or personnel or government officials which may implicate us, compliance with applicable anti-corruption laws by virtue of our operating in jurisdictions that may be vulnerable to the possibility of bribery, collusion, kickbacks, theft, improper commissions, facilitation payments, conflicts of interest and related party transactions and our possible failure to identify, manage and mitigate instances of fraud, corruption or violations of our code of conduct and applicable regulatory requirements.
There is also the risk of increased disclosure requirements; currency fluctuations; restrictions on the ability of local operating companies to hold U.S. dollars or other foreign currencies in offshore bank accounts; import and export regulations; increased regulatory requirements and restrictions; increased and environment- and health-related regulations; limitations on the repatriation of earnings or on our ability to assist in minimizing our expatriate workforce’s exposure to double taxation in both the home and host jurisdictions; and increased financing costs.
These risks may limit or disrupt our joint ventures, strategic alliances or investments, restrict the movement of funds, cause us to have to expend more funds than previously expected or required or result in the deprivation of contract rights or the taking of property by nationalization or expropriation without fair compensation, and may materially adversely affect our businesses, financial position or results of operations. In addition, the enforcement by us of our legal rights in foreign countries, including rights to exploit our properties or utilize our permits and licenses and contractual rights may not be recognized by the court systems in such foreign countries or enforced in accordance with the rule of law.
We operate, invest in companies, or engage in joint ventures, in countries with developing economies and in areas of the world where there are heightened political and security risks. It is difficult to predict the future political,
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social and economic direction of the countries in which we operate, and the impact government decisions may have on our business. Any political or economic instability in the countries in which we operate could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons or other natural or manmade disasters could result in an interruption of our operations possibly leading to a termination right for customers under our contracts, a delay in the completion of our infrastructure projects or higher construction, repair and maintenance costs, all of which could adversely affect us.
Storms and related storm activity and collateral effects, or other disasters such as explosions, fires, seismic events, floods or accidents, could result in damage to, or interruption of operations in our supply chain, including at our regasification terminals and other facilities, as well as delays or cost increases in the construction and the development of our planned facilities and higher repair and maintenance costs. Changes in the global climate may have significant physical effects, such as increased frequency and severity of storms, floods and rising sea levels; if any such effects were to occur, they could have an adverse effect on our marine and coastal operations. We are unable to predict with certainty the impact of future storms on our contracts, our customers, our infrastructure or our operations.
Global climate change may in the future increase the frequency and severity of weather events and the losses resulting therefrom, which could have a material adverse effect on the economies in the markets in which we operate or plan to operate in the future and therefore on our business.
Over the past several years, changing weather patterns and climatic conditions, such as global warming, have added to the unpredictability and frequency of natural disasters in certain parts of the world, including the markets in which we operate and intend to operate, and have created additional uncertainty as to future trends. There is a growing consensus today that climate change increases the frequency and severity of extreme weather events and, in recent years, the frequency of major weather events appears to have increased. We cannot predict whether or to what extent damage that may be caused by natural events, such as severe tropical storms, hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons will affect our operations or the economies in our current or future market areas, but the increased frequency and severity of such weather events could increase the negative impacts to economic conditions in these regions and result in a decline in the value or the destruction of regasification terminals and downstream facilities or affect our ability to import LNG or sell natural gas. In particular, if one of the regions in which our facilities are operating or under development is impacted by such a natural catastrophe in the future, it could have a material adverse effect on our business. Further, the economies of such impacted areas may require significant time to recover and there is no assurance that a full recovery will occur.
Increasing scrutiny and changing expectations from investors, lenders and other market participants with respect to our ESG policies may impose additional costs on us or expose us to additional risks.
Companies across all industries are facing increasing scrutiny relating to their Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) policies. Investor advocacy groups, certain institutional investors, investment funds, lenders and other market participants are increasingly focused on ESG practices and in recent years have placed increasing importance on the implications and social cost of their investments. The increased focus and activism related to ESG and similar matters may hinder access to capital, as investors and lenders may decide to reallocate capital or not to commit capital as a result of their assessment of a company’s ESG practices. Companies that do not adapt to or comply with investor, lender or other industry shareholder expectations and standards, which are evolving, or which are perceived to have not responded appropriately to the growing concern for ESG issues, regardless of whether there is a legal requirement to do so, may suffer from reputational damage and the business, financial condition or stock price of such a company could be materially and adversely affected.
We may face increasing pressures from investors, lenders and other market participants, who are increasingly focused on climate change, to prioritize sustainable energy practices, reduce our carbon footprint and promote sustainability. As a result, we may be required to implement more stringent ESG procedures or standards so that our existing and future investors and lenders remain invested in us and make further investments in us, especially given the highly focused and specific business of transportation and regasification of LNG and sale of natural gas in which we are engaged. If we do not meet these standards, our business or our ability to access capital could be harmed.
Additionally, certain investors and lenders may exclude companies engaged in the transportation and regasification of LNG and sale of natural gas, such as us, from their investing portfolios altogether due to ESG
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factors. These limitations in both the debt and equity capital markets may affect our ability to grow as our plans for growth may include accessing those markets. If those markets are unavailable, or if we are unable to access alternative means of financing on acceptable terms, or at all, we may be unable to implement our business strategy, which would have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations and impair our ability to service our indebtedness. Further, it is likely that we will incur additional costs and require additional resources to monitor, report and comply with wide ranging ESG requirements. Similarly, these policies may negatively impact the ability of other businesses in our supply chain, including natural gas producers, as well as users of LNG and natural gas, to access debt and capital markets. The occurrence of any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.
Acts of war or terrorism may seriously harm our business.
Acts of war, any outbreak or escalation of hostilities between the United States and any foreign power or between foreign powers or acts of terrorism may cause disruption to the U.S. economy, or the local economies of the markets in which we operate, cause shortages of materials, increase costs associated with obtaining materials, result in uninsured losses, result in the termination of certain customer contracts, affect job growth and consumer confidence or cause economic changes that we cannot anticipate, all of which could reduce demand for natural gas and our services and adversely impact our business, prospects, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations.
Governments could requisition our vessels during a period of war or emergency resulting in a loss of earnings.
Governments of the port states where our FSRUs are located could requisition one or more of our FSRUs. Generally, requisitions occur during a period of war or emergency, including an emergency declared by a government. Government requisition of one or more of our vessels could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.
We may incur impairments to long-lived assets.
We test our long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of these assets may not be recoverable. Significant negative industry or economic trends, including a significant decline in the market price of our Class A common stock, reduced estimates of future cash flows for our business or disruptions to our business could lead to an impairment charge of our long-lived assets. Our valuation methodology for assessing impairment requires management to make judgments and assumptions based on historical experience and to rely heavily on projections of future operating performance. Projections of future operating results and cash flows may vary significantly from results. In addition, if our analysis results in an impairment to our long-lived assets, we may be required to record a charge to earnings in our consolidated financial statements during a period in which such impairment is determined to exist, which may negatively impact our operating results.
FSRU vessel values may fluctuate substantially, and a decline in vessel values may result in impairment charges, the breach of our financial covenants or a loss on the vessels, if these values are lower at a time when we are attempting to dispose of vessels.
Vessel values for FSRUs can fluctuate substantially over time due to a number of different factors, including:
prevailing economic conditions in the LNG, natural gas and energy markets;
a substantial or extended decline or increase in demand for LNG;
increases in the supply of vessel capacity;
the size and age of a vessel;
the remaining term on existing time charters; and
the cost of retrofitting or modifying existing vessels, as a result of technological advances in vessel design or equipment, changes in applicable environmental or other regulations or standards, customer requirements or otherwise.
As our vessels age, the expenses associated with maintaining and operating them are expected to increase, which could have an adverse effect on our business and operations if we do not maintain sufficient cash reserves for maintenance and replacement capital expenditures. Moreover, the cost of a replacement vessel would be significant.
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If a regasification contract terminates, we may be unable to re-deploy the affected vessel at attractive rates and, rather than continue to incur costs to maintain and finance the vessel, we may seek to dispose of the vessel. Our inability to dispose of a vessel at a reasonable value could result in a loss on the sale and adversely affect our ability to purchase a replacement vessel, financial condition and results of operations. A decline in the value of our vessels may also result in impairment charges or the breach of certain of the ratios and financial covenants we are required to comply with in our credit facilities.
Information system failures, cyber incidents or breaches in security could adversely affect us.
We rely on accounting, financial, operational, management and other information systems to conduct our operations, including our vessel operations. Our information systems are subject to damage or interruption from power outages, computer and telecommunication failures, computer viruses, security breaches, including malware and phishing, cyberattacks, natural disasters, usage errors by our employees and other related risks. Any cyber incident or attack or other disruption or failure in these information systems, or other systems or infrastructure upon which they rely, could adversely affect our ability to conduct our business and could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations. For example, we or our customers or suppliers may be subject to retaliatory cyberattacks perpetrated by Russia or others at its direction in response to economic sanctions and other actions taken against Russia as a result of its invasion of Ukraine. In addition, any failure or security breach of information systems or data could result in a violation of applicable privacy and other laws, significant legal and financial exposure, damage to our reputation or a loss of confidence in our security measures, which could also harm our business.
Our insurance coverage may not be adequate to cover costs, expenses and losses associated with such events, and in any case, such insurance may not cover all of the types of costs, expenses and losses we could incur to respond to and remediate a security breach. Any incidents may result in loss of, or increased costs of, our cybersecurity insurance. We also cannot ensure that our existing insurance coverage will continue to be available on acceptable terms or will be available in sufficient amounts to cover one or more large claims related to a security incident or breach, or that the insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceed available insurance coverage, or the occurrence of changes in our insurance policies, including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or coinsurance requirements, could adversely affect our reputation and our business, financial condition and/or results of operations. In addition to costs associated with investigating and fully disclosing a data breach, we could be subject to regulatory proceedings or private claims by affected parties, which could result in substantial monetary fines or damages, and our reputation would likely be harmed.
Security breaches could also significantly damage our reputation with customers and third parties with whom we do business. Any publicized security problems affecting our businesses and/or those of such third parties may discourage customers from doing business with us, which could harm our business. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related to the Financing of Our Business
Access to financing sources may not be available on favorable terms, or at all, which could adversely affect our ability to grow our business.
Our access to additional third-party sources of financing will depend, in part, on:
general market conditions;
the duration and effects of the Covid-19 pandemic;
the market’s perception of our growth potential;
our current debt levels;
our current and expected future earnings;
restrictions in our customer contracts to pledge or place debt on our assets;
risk allocation requirements for limited recourse financing vehicles;
creditworthiness of potential customers;
our cash flow; and
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the market price per share of our Class A common stock.
The global credit and equity markets and the overall economy can be extremely volatile, which could have a number of adverse effects on our operations and capital requirements. For the past decade, the domestic financial markets have experienced a high degree of volatility, uncertainty and, during certain periods, tightening of liquidity in both the high yield debt and equity capital markets, resulting in certain periods when new capital has been both more difficult and more expensive to access. If we are unable to access the credit markets, we could be required to defer or eliminate important business strategies and growth opportunities in the future. In addition, if there is prolonged volatility and weakness in the capital and credit markets, potential lenders may be unwilling or unable to provide us with financing that is attractive to us or may increase collateral requirements or may charge us prohibitively high fees in order to obtain financing. Consequently, our ability to access the credit market in order to attract financing on reasonable terms may be adversely affected. Investment returns on our assets and our ability to make acquisitions could be adversely affected by our inability to secure additional financing on reasonable terms, if at all.
Depending on market conditions at the relevant time, we may have to rely more heavily on additional equity financings or on less efficient forms of debt financing that require a larger portion of our cash flow from operations, thereby reducing funds available for our operations, future business opportunities and other purposes. We may not have access to such equity or debt capital on favorable terms at the desired times, or at all.
Our debt level and finance lease liabilities may limit our flexibility in obtaining additional financing, refinancing credit facilities upon maturity or pursuing other business opportunities.
As of December 31, 2021, we had outstanding principal on long-term debt to third parties of $233.4 million and principal on long-term debt to related parties of $198.3 million. In addition, as of December 31, 2021, we had finance lease liabilities to third parties of $251.7 million and finance lease liabilities to related parties of $226.6 million. For more information regarding our long-term debt and lease liabilities, including applicable interest rates, maturity dates and security interests, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Debt Facilities.” If we acquire additional vessels or businesses or enter into new credit facilities, our consolidated debt may significantly increase.
Our debt level could have important consequences to us, including the following:
our ability to obtain additional financing, if necessary, for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions or other purposes may be limited, or such financing may not be available on favorable terms;
we will need a substantial portion of our cash flows to make principal and interest payments on our debt, reducing the funds that would otherwise be available for operations and future business opportunities;
our debt level may make us vulnerable to competitive pressures or a downturn in our business or the economy generally; and
our debt level may limit our flexibility in responding to changing business and economic conditions.
Our ability to service or refinance our debt will depend on, among other things, our future financial and operating performance as well as the overall credit worthiness of our customer base, which will be affected by prevailing economic conditions and financial, business, regulatory and other factors, some of which are beyond our control. If our operating results are not sufficient to service or refinance our current or future indebtedness, we will be forced to take actions such as reducing or delaying our business activities, acquisitions, investments or capital expenditures, selling assets, restructuring our debt, or seeking additional equity capital or bankruptcy protection. We may not be able to affect any of these remedies on satisfactory terms, or at all. In addition, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has negatively impacted, and may contribute to continued volatility in, global economic activity, demand for energy (including LNG, natural gas and LNG shipping related services) and funds flows and sentiment in the global financial markets. Continued economic disruption caused by the continued failure to control the spread of the virus could significantly impact our ability to obtain additional debt financing.
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We expect our new credit facility to subject us to various financial and other restrictive covenants. These restrictions may limit our operational or financial flexibility and could subject us to potential defaults under our new credit facility.
We expect our new credit facility (as defined herein) to subject us to significant financial and other restrictive covenants, including, but not limited to, restrictions on incurring additional debt and certain distributions. Our ability to comply with these financial condition tests can be affected by events beyond our control and we may not be able to do so.
We also expect our new credit facility to contain financial covenants in respect of a maximum consolidated total leverage ratio and a minimum consolidated interest coverage ratio. For more information regarding our new credit facility, see “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Planned New Credit Facility.”
If we are unable to remain in compliance with the financial covenants of our new credit facility, then amounts outstanding thereunder may be accelerated and become due immediately. Any such acceleration could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
The volatility of the global financial markets and uncertain economic conditions may adversely impact our results of operations, financial condition, cash flows and ability to obtain financing or refinance our existing and future credit facilities on acceptable terms, which may negatively impact our business.
Global financial markets and economic conditions have been, and continue to be, volatile. Due in part to the Covid-19 pandemic, global financial markets experienced volatility and a steep and abrupt downturn followed by a recovery, which volatility may continue as a result of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the recent invasion of Ukraine by Russia and government responses thereto. Disruptions in the credit and financial markets in the United States and worldwide may reduce our ability to access capital, including our ability to issue additional equity at prices that will not be dilutive to our existing shareholders or issue equity at all, and negatively affect our liquidity in the future. Economic conditions may also adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock.
Increased volatility in the financial markets and potential solvency concerns about our counterparties could make the availability and cost of obtaining money from the public and private equity and debt markets more difficult. Lenders may increase interest rates, enact tighter lending standards, refuse to refinance existing debt at all or on terms similar to current debt and reduce or cease to provide funding to borrowers and other market participants, including equity and debt investors. Some lenders may be unwilling to invest on attractive terms or even at all. Due to these factors, we cannot be certain that financing will be available if needed and to the extent required, or that we will be able to refinance our existing and future credit facilities, on acceptable terms or at all. If financing or refinancing is not available when needed, or is available only on unfavorable terms, we may be unable to meet our obligations as they come due, or we may be unable to enhance our existing business, complete additional vessel acquisitions or otherwise take advantage of business opportunities as they arise.
Global financial markets have operated in an ultra-low interest rate environment since the 2008 financial crisis, which has resulted in abnormal fund flows and traditional investment grade versus non-investment grade credit spreads. Should interest rates and credit spreads revert to more normal patterns, it could adversely impact our ability to maintain investment returns and/or affect the investment returns of future project opportunities.
Our financing agreements are secured by certain of our vessels and contain operating and financial restrictions and covenants that may restrict our business, financing activities and ability to pay dividends to our shareholders.
Our obligations under our financing arrangements, including our new credit facility, are secured by various forms of collateral, including, but not limited to, pledged or assigned customer contracts and certain of our vessels and guaranteed by our subsidiaries holding the interests in our vessels. Our loan agreements impose, and future financial obligations may impose, operating and financial restrictions on us. These restrictions may require the consent of our lenders, or may prevent or otherwise limit our ability to, among other things:
merge into, or consolidate with, any other entity or sell, or otherwise dispose of, all or substantially all of our assets;
make or pay dividends;
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incur additional indebtedness;
incur or make any capital expenditures; or
materially amend or terminate our customer contract for the vessel that secures the financing.
Our loan agreements and lease financing arrangements also require us to maintain specific financial levels and ratios, including, as applicable, minimum amounts of available cash, minimum levels of stockholders’ equity and maximum loan amounts to value. If we were to fail to maintain these levels and ratios without obtaining a waiver of covenant compliance or modification to our covenants, we would be in default of our loans and lease financing agreements, which, unless waived by our lenders, could provide our lenders with the right to require us to increase the minimum value held by us under our equity and liquidity covenants, increase our interest payments, pay down our indebtedness to a level where we are in compliance with our loan covenants, sell vessels in our fleet or reclassify our indebtedness as current liabilities and could allow our lenders to accelerate our indebtedness and foreclose their liens on our vessels, which could result in the loss of our vessels. If our indebtedness is accelerated, we may not be able to refinance our debt or obtain additional financing, which would impair our ability to continue to conduct our business. Refinanced credit facilities and future credit facilities may also contain financial and operating covenants that are more restrictive than our current set of financial covenants.
Events beyond our control, including changes in the economic and business conditions in the industry in which we operate, interest rate developments, changes in the funding costs of our banks, changes in vessel earnings and asset valuations and outbreaks of epidemic and pandemic of diseases, such as the recent outbreak of Covid-19, may affect our ability to comply with these covenants. In the past, we did not maintain compliance with these covenants. As of December 31, 2020, we were not in compliance with three non-financial covenants under two loan agreements with external banks. Subsequent to December 31, 2020, two non-financial covenants were cured, and a waiver was obtained for the remaining non-financial covenant such that we are no longer in an event of default. We were in compliance with all covenants as of December 31, 2021, but cannot provide any assurance that we will continue to meet these ratios or satisfy our financial or other covenants or that our lenders will waive any failure to do so.
Maritime claimants could arrest our vessels, which could interrupt our cash flow.
If we are in default on certain kinds of obligations, such as those to our lenders, crew members, suppliers of goods and services to our vessels or shippers of cargo, these parties may be entitled to a maritime lien against one or more of our vessels. In many jurisdictions, a maritime lien holder may enforce its lien by arresting a vessel through foreclosure proceedings. In certain jurisdictions, claimants could try to assert “sister ship” liability against one vessel in our fleet for claims relating to another of our vessels. The arrest or attachment of one or more of our vessels could interrupt our cash flow and require us to pay to have the arrest lifted. This would negatively impact our revenues and reduce our cash flow.
Failure to maintain sufficient working capital could limit our growth and harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We have significant working capital requirements, primarily driven by the delay between the purchase of LNG and payment for natural gas and the extended payment terms that we offer our customers. Differences between the date when we pay our suppliers and the date when we receive payments from our customers may adversely affect our liquidity and our cash flows. We expect our working capital needs to increase as our total business increases. If we do not have sufficient working capital, we may not be able to pursue our growth strategy, respond to competitive pressures or fund key strategic initiatives, such as the development of our facilities, which may harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Changes affecting the availability of LIBOR may have consequences for us that cannot yet be reasonably predicted.
Certain agreements related to our outstanding debt accrue interest rates based on the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”). The LIBOR benchmark has been the subject of national, international and other regulatory guidance and proposals to reform. In July 2017, the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority (the authority that regulates LIBOR) announced that it intended to stop compelling banks to submit rates for the calculation of LIBOR after 2021. In March 2021, ICE Benchmark Administration, the administrator for LIBOR, confirmed its intention to cease publishing one week and two-month USD LIBOR after December 2021 and all remaining USD LIBOR tenors in mid-2023. Concurrently, the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority announced the cessation or loss of
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representativeness of the USD LIBOR tenors from those dates. The Alternative Reference Rates Committee, a group of market participants convened by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has recommended the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”), a rate calculated based on repurchase agreements backed by treasury securities, as its recommended alternative benchmark rate to replace USD LIBOR. At this time, it is not known whether or when SOFR or other alternative reference rates will attain market traction as replacements for LIBOR.
These reforms may cause LIBOR to perform differently than it has in the past. ICE Benchmark Administration ceased publishing one-week and two-month USD LIBOR on December 31, 2021, and it is expected that all remaining USD LIBOR tenors will cease to be available after mid-2023. After the cessation of LIBOR, alternative benchmark rates will replace LIBOR and could affect our debt securities, debt payments and receipts. At this time, it is not possible to predict the effect of the cessation of LIBOR or the establishment of alternative benchmark rates. Any new benchmark rate will likely not replicate LIBOR exactly, which could impact our contracts that terminate after 2021 or mid-2023, as applicable. There is uncertainty about how applicable law and the courts will address the replacement of LIBOR with alternative rates on variable rate retail loan contracts and other contracts that do not include alternative rate fallback provisions. In addition, changes to benchmark rates may have an uncertain impact on our cost of funds, which could impact our results of operations and cash flows. Uncertainty as to the nature of such potential changes may also adversely affect the trading market for our securities.
We are exposed to U.S. dollar and foreign currency fluctuations and devaluations and interest rate changes that could harm our reported revenue and results of operations.
Our principal currency for our operations and financing is the U.S. dollar. We generate the majority of our revenues in the U.S. dollar. Apart from the U.S. dollar, we incur a portion of capital, operating and administrative expenses in multiple currencies.
Due to a portion of our expenses being incurred in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, our expenses may, from time to time, increase relative to our revenues as a result of fluctuations in exchange rates, particularly between the U.S. dollar and the Euro, Argentine Peso, Brazilian Real and the Bangladeshi Taka, which could affect the amount of net income that we report in future periods. In the future, we may use financial derivatives to hedge some of our currency exposure. At times, revenue may be generated in local currency, which could be subject to currency fluctuations and devaluations. In the future, we may use financial derivatives to hedge some of this currency exposure.
In addition, we use interest rate hedges to manage our exposure to variable interest rates on our outstanding indebtedness. Although we may manage risks associated with fluctuations in interest rates through financial hedging instruments, fluctuations in interest rates could have a material adverse effect on our results.
The use of financial derivatives involves certain risks, including the risk that losses on a hedged position could exceed the nominal amount invested in the instrument and the risk that the counterparty to the derivative transaction may be unable or unwilling to satisfy its contractual obligations, which could have an adverse effect on our results.
Any use of commodity hedging arrangements may adversely affect our future operating results or liquidity.
To reduce our exposure to fluctuations in the price, volume and timing risk associated with the purchase of LNG and sale of natural gas, we may enter into futures, swaps and option contracts traded or cleared on the Intercontinental Exchange and the New York Mercantile Exchange or over-the-counter (“OTC”) options and swaps with other natural gas merchants and financial institutions. Hedging arrangements would expose us to risk of financial loss in some circumstances.
The use of derivatives also may require the posting of cash collateral with counterparties, which can impact working capital when commodity prices change. We do not currently have any hedging arrangements that relate to commodities. Failure to properly hedge any positions that we may have from time to time against changes in natural gas prices could also have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.
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Risks Related to Regulations
Our operations are subject to various international treaties and conventions and national and local environmental, health, safety and maritime conduct laws and regulations. Compliance with these obligations, and any future changes to laws and regulations applicable to our business, may have an adverse effect on our business.
Our operations are affected by extensive and changing international treaties and conventions, and national and local environmental protection, health, safety and maritime conduct laws and regulations, including those in force in international waters, the jurisdictional waters of the countries in which our vessels operate and the onshore territories in which our facilities are located, as well as Belgium and the Marshall Islands where our vessels are registered. These include rules governing response to and liability for oil spills, discharges to air and water, maritime transport of certain materials and the handling and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes. In addition, our vessels are subject to safety and other obligations under law and the requirements of the classification societies that certify our vessels relating to safety and seaworthiness.
Compliance with and limitations imposed by these laws, regulations, treaties, conventions, and other requirements, and any future additions or changes to such laws or requirements, may increase our costs or limit our operations and have an adverse effect on our business. Failure to comply can result in administrative and civil penalties, criminal sanctions or the suspension or termination of our operations, including, in certain instances, seizure or detention of our vessels.
Some environmental laws and regulations, such as the U.S. Oil Pollution Act of 1990, or “OPA,” provide for potentially unlimited joint, several and strict liability for owners, operators and demise or bareboat charterers for oil pollution and related damages. OPA applies to discharges of any oil from a ship in U.S. waters, including discharges of fuel and lubricants from an LNGC, even if the ships do not carry oil as cargo. In addition, many states in the United States bordering a navigable waterway have enacted legislation providing for potentially unlimited strict liability without regard to fault for the discharge of pollutants within their waters. We also are subject to other laws outside the United States and international conventions that provide for an owner or operator of LNGCs to bear strict liability for pollution.
Climate change and greenhouse gas regulations and impacts may adversely impact our operations and markets.
Due to concern over the risk of climate change, a number of countries and the International Maritime Organization (“IMO”) have adopted, or are considering the adoption of, regulatory frameworks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vessels. These regulatory measures may include, among others, adoption of cap and trade regimes, carbon taxes, increased efficiency standards and incentives or mandates for renewable energy. Although the emissions of greenhouse gases from international shipping currently are not subject to the international treaty on climate change known as the Paris Agreement, a new treaty or IMO regulations may be adopted in the future that includes restrictions on shipping emissions. In 2016, the IMO reaffirmed its strong commitment to continue to work to address greenhouse gas emissions from ships engaged in international trade. The IMO adopted an initial GHG reduction strategy in 2018 as a framework for further action with adoption of a revised IMO strategy targeted for 2023 (the “IMO GHG Strategy”). Consistent with the IMO GHG Strategy goal of reducing GHG emissions from international shipping by at least 50% by 2050, as compared to 2008 levels, IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (“MEPC”) agreed upon draft amendments to MARPOL Annex VI that would establish an enforceable regulatory framework to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping, consisting of technical and operational carbon reduction measures, including use of an Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index, an operational Carbon Intensity Indicator and an enhanced Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan. These amendments were formally adopted at the 2021 MEPC session and will enter into force on January 1, 2023. Such legislation or regulations has required and may in the future require additional capital expenditures or operating expenses, such as increased costs for low-sulfur fuel needed to meet IMO 2020 requirements, for us to maintain our vessels’ compliance with international and/or national regulations.
In addition, in September 2021, a group of over 150 companies, including shipping companies, oil companies and port authorities, called on regulators to require the shipping industry to be fully decarbonized by 2050.
The EU has indicated it intends to implement regulations to limit emissions of greenhouse gases from vessels if such emissions are not regulated through the IMO and, in September 2020, the European Parliament approved draft legislation that would put in place measures to address greenhouse gas emissions from shipping. Further on July 14,
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2021, the European Commission adopted a series of legislative proposals on how it intends to achieve climate neutrality in the EU by 2050 (“Fit for 55 Package”). The proposals include incorporating the shipping industry into the European Union Emissions Trading System (“EU ETS”) for the first time (beginning in 2023 and phased in gradually through 2025). Owners of ships sailing in the EU will have to buy permits for their emissions under the EU ETS or face possible bans from EU ports (for all vessels operated by the shipping company), and the proposals also require permitting for 50% of emissions from international voyages starting and ending in the EU. There is also an initiative to increase the demand and deployment of renewable alternative transport fuels, and a proposal to review the Energy Taxation Directive with regard to the current exemption of fuel used by ships from taxation. The Fit for 55 Package remains subject to adoption by the European Parliament and the Council. Compliance with changes in laws and regulations relating to climate change could increase our costs of operating and maintaining our vessels and could require us to make significant financial expenditures that we cannot predict with certainty at this time. Further, our business may be adversely affected to the extent that climate change results in sea level changes or more intense weather events.
Laws and regulations inside and outside the United States relating to climate change affecting the LNG and natural gas industry, including the use of natural gas to generate electricity, growing public concern about the environmental impact of climate change, and broader, economy-wide legislative initiatives to reduce or phase out the use of fossil fuels could adversely affect our business. For example, laws, regulations and other initiatives to shift electricity generation away from fossil fuels to renewable sources over time are at various stages of implementation and consideration and may continue to be adopted in the future in the markets in which we operate. Although it is our expectation that these efforts may reduce global demand for natural gas and increase demand for alternative energy sources in the long term, these changes may occur on a more accelerated basis then we currently project. For instance, our projections are based on, among others, the Wood Mackenzie Global Gas 2021 Outlook to 2050 base case, which assumes a climate scenario in which energy demand falls short of achieving Paris Agreement-aligned CO2 emissions reductions by 2050. However, climate scenarios outlined in that report assuming more aggressive CO2 reductions project lower demand for natural gas. In addition, future demand for natural gas may be adversely impacted if technologies to capture and sequester carbon emissions are not commercialized. We cannot predict with certainty the likelihood of this or other climate scenarios. Any long-term material adverse effect on the LNG and natural gas industry could have a significant financial and operational adverse impact on our business that we cannot predict with certainty at this time.
If we fail to comply with international safety regulations, we may be subject to increased liability, which may adversely affect our insurance coverage and may result in a denial of access to, or detention in, certain ports.
The operation of our vessels is affected by the requirements set forth in the International Safety Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and for Pollution Prevention (the “ISM Code”). The ISM Code requires shipowners, ship managers and bareboat charterers to develop and maintain an extensive “Safety Management System” that includes the adoption of a safety and environmental protection policy setting forth instructions and procedures for safe operation and describing procedures for dealing with emergencies. If we fail to comply with the ISM Code, we may be subject to increased liability, our existing insurance coverage for our affected vessels may be invalidated or the availability of insurance coverage may decrease, and such issues may result in a denial of access to, or detention in, certain ports.
Regulations relating to ballast water discharge may adversely affect our costs and profitability.
The IMO has imposed updated guidelines for ballast water management systems specifying the maximum amount of viable organisms allowed to be discharged from a vessel’s ballast water. Depending on the date of the International Oil Pollution Prevention, or IOPP renewal survey, existing vessels constructed before September 8, 2017 must comply with the updated D-2 standard on or after September 8, 2019. For most vessels, compliance with the D-2 standard will involve installing on-board systems to treat ballast water and eliminate unwanted organisms. Ships constructed on or after September 8, 2017 are to comply with the D-2 standards upon delivery. In addition, we are subject to ballast water management regulations in certain jurisdictions where our vessels operate. If we fail to comply with the IMO standard for ballast water or similar regulations, we could be subject to penalties for failure to comply. In addition, if these regulations are amended, such amendments may require us to incur costs to comply with the changes, which increased costs may adversely impact our profitability.
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Failure to comply with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other anti-bribery legislation in other jurisdictions could result in fines, criminal penalties, contract terminations and an adverse effect on our business.
We are also subject to anti-corruption laws and regulations worldwide, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), which generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping business or other benefits. Some of the jurisdictions in which we currently, or may in the future, operate may present heightened risks for corruption. Although we have adopted policies and procedures that are designed to ensure that we, our employees and other intermediaries comply with applicable anti-corruption laws, including the FCPA, it is highly challenging to adopt policies and procedures that ensure compliance in all respects with such laws, particularly in high-risk jurisdictions. Developing and implementing policies and procedures is a complex endeavor. There is no assurance that these policies and procedures will work effectively all of the time or protect us against liability under anti-corruption laws and regulations, including the FCPA, for actions taken by our employees and other intermediaries with respect to our business or any businesses that we may acquire.
If we are not in compliance with anti-corruption laws and regulations, including the FCPA, we may be subject to costly and intrusive criminal and civil investigations as well significant potential criminal and civil penalties and other remedial measures, including changes or enhancements to our procedures, policies and control, as well as potential personnel change and disciplinary actions. In addition, non-compliance with anti-corruption laws could constitute a breach of certain covenants in operational or debt agreements, and cross-default provisions in certain of our agreements could mean that an event of default under certain of our commercial agreements could trigger an event of default under our other agreements, including our debt agreements. Any adverse finding against us could also negatively affect our relationship with current and potential customers as well as our reputation generally. The occurrence of any of these events could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition, liquidity and future business prospects.
We are subject to numerous governmental export, trade and economic sanctions laws and regulations. Our failure to comply with such laws and regulations could subject us to liability and have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations or financial condition.
We conduct business throughout the world, and our business activities and services are subject to various applicable import and export control laws and regulations of the United States and other countries in which we do or seek to do business. We must also comply with U.S. trade and economic sanctions laws, including the U.S. Commerce Department’s Export Administration Regulations and economic and trade sanctions regulations maintained by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. For example, Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. In response, the United States and certain other countries imposed significant sanctions and export controls against Russia, Belarus and certain individuals and entities connected to Russian or Belarusian political, business and financial organizations, and the United States and certain other countries could impose further sanctions, trade restrictions and other retaliatory actions should the conflict continue or worsen. Although we take precautions to comply with all such laws and regulations, violations of governmental export control and economic sanctions laws and regulations could result in negative consequences to us, including government investigations, sanctions, criminal or civil fines or penalties, more onerous compliance requirements, loss of authorizations needed to conduct aspects of our international business, reputational harm and other adverse consequences. Moreover, it is possible that we could invest both time and capital into a project involving a country or counterparty that may become subject to sanctions. If any of our counterparties or jurisdictions where we do business becomes subject to sanctions as a result of these laws and regulations or otherwise, we may face an array of issues, including, but not limited to: having to abandon the related project, being unable to recuperate prior invested time and capital or being subject to law suits, investigations or regulatory proceedings that could be time-consuming and expensive to respond to and which could lead to criminal or civil fines or penalties.
Failure to comply with current or future federal, state and foreign laws and regulations and industry standards relating to privacy, data protection, advertising and consumer protection could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We are subject to various privacy, information security, and data protection laws, rules, and regulations that present an ever-evolving regulatory landscape across multiple jurisdictions and industry sections. Federal, state, and foreign legislators and/or regulators are increasingly adopting or revising privacy, information security, and data
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protection laws, rules, and regulations that potentially could have a significant impact on our current and planned privacy, data protection, and information security-related practices our collection, use, storing, sharing, retention and safeguarding and otherwise processing of certain types of consumer or employee information; and some of our current or planned business activities, which could further increase our costs of compliance and business operations and could reduce income from certain business initiatives.
Compliance with current or future privacy, information security and data protection laws, rules and regulations (including those regarding security breach notification) affecting consumer (which may be broadly construed to include business-to-business contacts) or employee data to which we are subject could result in higher compliance and technology costs and could restrict our ability to provide certain products and services (such as products or services that involve sharing information with third parties). Additionally, regulators may attempt to assert authority over our business in the area of privacy, information security and data protection. If our vendors also become subject to new and additional laws, rules and regulations in more stringent and expansive jurisdictions, this could result in increasing costs to our business. We cannot predict the effect compliance with any such laws or regulations may have on our operating environment.
For example, while we do not have more than incidental or occasional contacts with the state of California, and the more sensitive information we collect from business-to-business contacts and employees is largely exempt from the current California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”), which took effect on January 1, 2020, we may be subject to the new California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), which modifies the CCPA. Effective in most material respects starting on January 1, 2023, the CPRA will impose additional data protection obligations on companies doing business in California, potentially resulting in further complexity. The effects of the CPRA, other similar state or federal laws, rules and regulations, and other future changes in laws, rules or regulations, may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies, could increase the cost of providing our offerings, require changes to our operations, or could cause us to incur potential liability in an effort to comply with such legislation. Other state legislatures are currently contemplating, and may pass, their own comprehensive data privacy and security laws, and the effects of this legislation may impact our business.
Internationally, many jurisdictions have established their own data security and privacy legal frameworks, including data localization and storage requirements, with which we may need to comply. For example, the EU and many countries in Europe have stringent privacy laws and regulations, which may affect our ability to operate cost effectively in certain European countries. In particular, the EU has adopted the GDPR which went into effect on May 25, 2018 and contains numerous requirements. Specifically, the GDPR introduced numerous privacy-related changes for companies operating in the EU, including greater control for data subjects (e.g., the “right to be forgotten”), increased data portability for EU consumers, data breach notification requirements, and increased fines. In particular, under the GDPR, fines of up to 20 million Euros or up to 4% of the annual global revenue of the noncompliant company, whichever is greater, could be imposed for violations of certain of the GDPR’s requirements. Due to our physical presence in Belgium and employment of EU nationals, complying with the GDPR may cause us to incur substantial operational costs or require us to change our business practices. Despite our efforts to bring practices into compliance with the GDPR, we may not be successful either due to internal or external factors such as resource allocation limitations or a lack of vendor cooperation. Non-compliance could result in proceedings against us by governmental entities, customers, data subjects or others. We may also experience difficulty retaining or obtaining new European or multi-national customers due to potential increases in our compliance costs, increased potential risk exposure, and uncertainty for these entities, and we may experience significantly increased liability with respect to these customers pursuant to the terms set forth in our engagements with them.
Recent legal developments in Europe have created complexity and regulatory compliance uncertainty regarding certain transfers of personal data from the European Economic Area (“EEA”) to the United States. For example, on July 16, 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) invalidated the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework (“Privacy Shield”) under which personal data could be transferred from the EU to U.S. entities who had self-certified under the Privacy Shield program. While the CJEU upheld the adequacy of EU-specified standard contractual clauses as an adequate personal data transfer mechanism, it made clear that reliance on them alone may not necessarily be sufficient in all circumstances and that their use must be assessed on a case-by-case basis taking into account the surveillance laws in and the right of individuals afforded by, the destination country. The CJEU went on to state that, if the competent supervisory authority believes that the standard contractual clauses cannot be complied with in the destination country and the required level of protection cannot be secured by other means, such supervisory authority is under an obligation to suspend or prohibit that transfer unless the data exporter has already
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done so itself. We rely on a mixture of mechanisms to transfer personal data from the EU to the U.S. (including having previously relied on Privacy Shield) and are evaluating what additional mechanisms may be required to establish adequate safeguards for personal data. Although the European Commission has issued revised standard contractual clauses in June 2021, as supervisory authorities continue to issue further guidance on personal data export mechanisms, including circumstances where the standard contractual clauses cannot be used and/or start taking enforcement action, we could suffer additional costs, complaints, and/or regulatory investigations or fines. Moreover, if we are otherwise unable to transfer personal data between and among countries and regions in which we operate, it could affect the manner in which we provide our services, and we may find it necessary to establish systems in the EU to maintain personal data originating from the EU, which may involve substantial expense and distraction from other aspects of our business. In the meantime, there could be uncertainty as to how to comply with EU privacy law.
Further, the United Kingdom’s vote in favor of exiting the EU, often referred to as Brexit, and ongoing developments in the United Kingdom have created uncertainty with regard to data protection regulation in the United Kingdom, which is now governed by a United Kingdom version of the GDPR (combining the GDPR and the United Kingdom’s Data Protection Act 2018), potentially exposing us to two parallel regimes, each of which could authorize similar fines and potentially divergent enforcement actions for certain violations. Other countries have also passed or are considering passing laws requiring local data residency or restricting the international transfer of data.
Because the interpretation and application of many privacy and data protection laws, rules and regulations along with contractually imposed industry standards are uncertain, it is possible that these laws may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our existing data management practices or the features of our solutions and platform capabilities, which could adversely impact our business by requiring us to change our business activities or modify our solutions and platform capabilities and result in fines, lawsuits and other claims and penalties. Any inability to adequately address privacy and security concerns, even if unfounded, or comply with applicable privacy and data security laws, rules, regulations and policies, could result in additional cost and liability to us, damage our reputation, inhibit growth, and otherwise adversely affect our business. Furthermore, the costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, the laws, rules, regulations and policies that are applicable to our businesses may limit the use and adoption of, and reduce the overall demand for, our solutions. Privacy and data security concerns, whether valid or not valid, may inhibit market adoption of our solutions, particularly in certain industries and foreign countries. If we are not able to adjust to changing laws, rules and information security, our business may be harmed.
Risks Related to Our Organization and Structure and Tax Matters
We are a holding company, and we are accordingly dependent upon distributions from our subsidiaries to pay dividends, if any, taxes and other expenses and make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement.
We are a holding company and, upon completion of the Reorganization and this offering, will have no material assets other than our ownership of equity interests in our subsidiaries. See “Organizational Structure” in this prospectus for additional information. We have no independent means of generating revenue. Substantially all of our assets are held through subsidiaries of EELP. EELP’s cash flow is dependent on cash distributions from its subsidiaries, and, in turn, substantially all of our cash flow is dependent on cash distributions from EELP. We will also incur expenses related to our operations and will have obligations to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement. The creditors of each of our direct and indirect subsidiaries are entitled to payment of that subsidiary’s obligations to them, when due and payable, before distributions may be made by that subsidiary to its equity holders.
EELP’s ability to make distributions to us depends on its subsidiaries’ ability to first satisfy their obligations to their creditors. We intend to cause EELP to make distributions to us pursuant to the EELP Limited Partnership Agreement in an amount sufficient to cover our expenses, all applicable taxes payable and dividends, if any, declared by us and enable us to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement. Deterioration in the financial conditions, earnings or cash flow of EELP and its subsidiaries for any reason could limit or impair their ability to pay such distributions. Thus, our ability to cover our expenses, all applicable taxes payable and dividends, if any, declared by us depends on EELP’s ability to first satisfy its obligations to its creditors.
In addition, our participation in any distribution of the assets of any of our direct or indirect subsidiaries upon any liquidation, reorganization or insolvency is only after the claims of such subsidiaries’ creditors, including trade creditors, are satisfied. Furthermore, some of our financing arrangements contain negative covenants, limiting the ability of our subsidiaries to declare or pay dividends or make distributions. To the extent that we need funds, and
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our subsidiaries are restricted from declaring or paying such dividends or making such distributions under applicable law or regulations, or otherwise unable to provide such funds, for example, due to restrictions in future financing arrangements that limit the ability of our operating subsidiaries to distribute funds, our liquidity and financial condition could be materially harmed.
We will be required to pay over to the TRA Beneficiaries most of the tax benefits available to us in respect of our acquisition of interests of EELP, and the amount of those payments are expected to be substantial.
We will enter into a Tax Receivable Agreement with the TRA Beneficiaries and the representative of the TRA Beneficiaries (the “TRA Representative”). The Tax Receivable Agreement will provide for payment by us to the TRA Beneficiaries of 85% of the amount of the net cash tax savings, if any, that we are deemed to realize as a result of (i) certain increases in the tax basis of assets of EELP and its subsidiaries resulting from exchanges of EELP partnership interests in the future, (ii) certain tax attributes of EELP and subsidiaries of EELP (including the existing tax basis of assets owned by EELP or its subsidiaries and the tax basis of the Foundation Vessels) that exist as of the time of this offering or may exist at the time when Class B interests of EELP are exchanged for shares of Class A common stock, and (iii) certain other tax benefits related to Excelerate entering into the Tax Receivable Agreement, including tax benefits attributable to payments that Excelerate makes under the Tax Receivable Agreement. We will retain the benefit of the remaining 15% of these deemed net cash tax savings.
The term of the Tax Receivable Agreement will commence upon the completion of this offering and will continue until all tax benefits that are subject to the Tax Receivable Agreement have been utilized or have expired, unless we exercise our right to terminate the Tax Receivable Agreement (or it is terminated due to a change in control or our breach of a material obligation thereunder), in which case, we will be required to make the termination payment specified in the Tax Receivable Agreement. In addition, payments we make under the Tax Receivable Agreement will be increased by any interest accrued from the due date (without extensions) of the corresponding tax return. If EE Holdings were to exchange all of its EELP interests, we would recognize a total deferred tax asset of approximately $549.2 million and a related liability for payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement of approximately $404.2 million, assuming (i) that EE Holdings redeemed or exchanged all of its EELP interests immediately after the completion of this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $22.50 per share of Class A common stock (the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover of this prospectus), (ii) no material changes in relevant tax law, (iii) a constant combined effective income tax rate of 21% and (iv) that we have sufficient taxable income in each year to realize on a current basis the increased depreciation, amortization and other tax benefits that are the subject of the Tax Receivable Agreement. The actual future payments to the TRA Beneficiaries will vary based on the factors discussed below, and estimating the amount and timing of payments that may be made under the Tax Receivable Agreement is by its nature imprecise, as the calculation of amounts payable depends on a variety of factors and future events. We expect to receive distributions from EELP in order to make any required payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement. However, we may need to incur debt to finance payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement to the extent such distributions or our cash resources are insufficient to meet our obligations under the Tax Receivable Agreement as a result of timing discrepancies or otherwise.
The amount and timing of any payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement, will vary depending on a number of factors, including the price of our Class A common stock at the time of the exchange; the timing of future exchanges; the extent to which exchanges are taxable; the amount and timing of the utilization of tax attributes; the amount, timing and character of our income; the U.S. federal, state and local tax rates then applicable; the amount of each exchanging partner’s tax basis in its interests at the time of the relevant exchange; the depreciation and amortization periods that apply to the assets of EELP and its subsidiaries; the timing and amount of any earlier payments that we may have made under the Tax Receivable Agreement and the portion of our payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement that constitute imputed interest or give rise to depreciable or amortizable tax basis. We expect that, as a result of the increases in the tax basis of the tangible and intangible assets of EELP attributable to the exchanged EELP interests and certain other tax benefits (including the existing tax basis of assets owned by EELP or its subsidiaries and the tax basis of the Foundation Vessels), the payments that we will be required to make to the holders of rights under the Tax Receivable Agreement could be substantial. There may be a material negative effect on our financial condition and liquidity if, as described below, the payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement exceed the actual benefits we receive in respect of the tax attributes subject to the Tax Receivable Agreement and/or distributions to us by EELP are not sufficient to permit us to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement.
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In certain circumstances, payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement may be accelerated and/or significantly exceed the actual tax benefits, if any, that we actually realize.
The Tax Receivable Agreement will provide that if (i) we exercise our right to early termination of the Tax Receivable Agreement in whole (that is, with respect to all benefits due to all of the TRA Beneficiaries) or in part (that is, with respect to some benefits due to the TRA Beneficiaries), (ii) we experience certain changes in control, (iii) the Tax Receivable Agreement is rejected in certain bankruptcy proceedings, (iv) we fail (subject to certain exceptions) to make a payment under the Tax Receivable Agreement within 180 days after the due date or (v) we materially breach our obligations under the Tax Receivable Agreement, we will be obligated to make an early termination payment to holders of rights under the Tax Receivable Agreement equal to the present value of all payments that would be required to be paid by us under the Tax Receivable Agreement. The amount of such payments will be determined on the basis of certain assumptions in the Tax Receivable Agreement, including (i) the assumption that we would have enough taxable income in the future to fully utilize the tax benefit resulting from the tax assets that are the subject of the Tax Receivable Agreement, (ii) the assumption that any item of loss deduction or credit generated by a basis adjustment or imputed interest arising in a taxable year preceding the taxable year that includes an early termination will be used by us ratably from such taxable year through the earlier of (x) the scheduled expiration of such tax item or (y) 15 years; (iii) the assumption that any non-amortizable assets are deemed to be disposed of in a fully taxable transaction on the fifteenth anniversary of the earlier of the basis adjustment and the early termination date; (iv) the assumption that U.S. federal, state and local tax rates will be the same as in effect on the early termination date, unless scheduled to change; and (v) the assumption that any interests of EELP (other than those held by us) outstanding on the termination date are deemed to be exchanged for an amount equal to the market value of the corresponding number of shares of Class A common stock on the termination date. Any early termination payment may be made significantly in advance of the actual realization, if any, of the future tax benefits to which the termination payment relates. The amount of the early termination payment is determined by discounting the present value of all payments that would be required to be paid by us under the Tax Receivable Agreement at a rate equal to the lesser of (i) 6.5% and (ii) LIBOR (or an acceptable LIBOR replacement rate) plus 400 basis points.
Moreover, as a result of an elective early termination, a change in control or our material breach of our obligations under the Tax Receivable Agreement, we could be required to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement that exceed our actual cash savings under the Tax Receivable Agreement. Thus, our obligations under the Tax Receivable Agreement could have a substantial negative effect on our financial condition and liquidity and could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing certain mergers, asset sales, or other forms of business combinations or changes in control. For example, on a pro forma basis, if we experienced a change in control as of December 31, 2021, the estimated lump-sum payment would have been approximately $249.6 million. This estimated payment assumes: (i) the change in control occurred on December 31, 2021; (ii) a price of $22.50 per share (the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus); (iii) a constant combined federal and state corporate tax rate of 21%; and (iv) no material changes in tax law. Actual results may differ from assumptions for various reasons, including the timing of the change in control, the trading price of our shares of Class A common stock at the time of the change in control, and the tax rates then in effect. We cannot assure you that we will be able to finance any early termination payment. It is also possible that the actual benefits ultimately realized by us may be significantly less than were projected in the computation of the early termination payment. We will not be reimbursed if the actual benefits ultimately realized by us are less than were projected in the computation of the early termination payment.
Payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement will be based on the tax reporting positions that we will determine and the IRS or another tax authority may challenge all or part of the tax basis increases, as well as other related tax positions we take, and a court could sustain such challenge. If any tax benefits that have given rise to payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement are subsequently disallowed, we would be entitled to reduce future amounts otherwise payable to a holder of rights under the Tax Receivable Agreement to the extent the holder has received excess payments. However, the required final and binding determination that a holder of rights under the Tax Receivable Agreement has received excess payments may not be made for a number of years following commencement of any challenge, and we will not be permitted to reduce its payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement until there has been a final and binding determination, by which time sufficient subsequent payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement may not be available to offset prior payments for disallowed benefits. We will not be reimbursed for any payments previously made under the Tax Receivable Agreement if the basis increases described above are successfully challenged by the IRS or another taxing authority. Moreover, payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement are calculated on the basis of certain assumptions, which may deviate from reality,
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including, for example, (i) that the increase in tax basis of the assets of EELP that results from exchanges of Class B interests for shares of Class A common stock will be determined without regard to the existing tax basis of the assets of EELP and (ii) if Excelerate holds interests of EELP through one or more wholly owned subsidiaries, the assumption that no such subsidiary exists and Excelerate holds all of its EELP interests directly. As a result, in certain circumstances, payments could be made under the Tax Receivable Agreement that are significantly in excess of the benefit that we actually realize in respect of the increases in tax basis (and utilization of certain other tax benefits) and we may not be able to recoup those payments, which could adversely affect our financial condition and liquidity.
In certain circumstances, EELP will be required to make distributions to us and the other partners of EELP, and the distributions that EELP will be required to make may be substantial.
EELP is expected to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes and, as such, is not generally subject to entity-level U.S. federal income tax. Instead, taxable income will be allocated to partners, including us, pursuant to the EELP Limited Partnership Agreement. EELP will make tax distributions to its partners, including us, which generally will be pro rata based on the ownership of EELP interests, calculated using an assumed tax rate, to help each of the partners to pay taxes on that partner’s allocable share of EELP’s net taxable income. Under applicable tax rules, EELP is required to allocate net taxable income disproportionately to its partners in certain circumstances. Because tax distributions will be determined based on the partner who is allocated the largest amount of taxable income on a per interest basis and on an assumed tax rate that generally is the highest rate applicable to any partner but will be made pro rata based on ownership of EELP interests, EELP will be required to make tax distributions that, in the aggregate, will likely exceed the aggregate amount of taxes payable by its partners with respect to the allocation of EELP income.
Funds used by EELP to satisfy its tax distribution obligations will not be available for reinvestment in our business. Moreover, the tax distributions EELP will be required to make may be substantial and may significantly exceed (as a percentage of EELP’s income) the overall effective tax rate applicable to a similarly situated corporate taxpayer. In addition, because these payments will be calculated with reference to an assumed tax rate, and because of the disproportionate allocation of net taxable income, these payments likely will significantly exceed the actual tax liability for many of the partners of EELP.
As a result of potential differences in the amount of net taxable income allocable to us and to the existing partners of EELP, as well as the use of an assumed tax rate in calculating EELP’s distribution obligations, we may receive distributions significantly in excess of our tax liabilities and obligations to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement. We may choose to manage these excess distributions through a number of different approaches, including by applying them to general corporate purposes.
No adjustments to the redemption or exchange ratio of EELP interests for shares of our Class A common stock will be made as a result of either (i) any cash distribution by us or (ii) any cash that we retain and do not distribute to our stockholders. To the extent that we do not distribute such excess cash as dividends on our Class A common stock and instead, for example, hold such cash balances or lend them to EELP, holders of EELP interests would benefit from any value attributable to such cash balances as a result of their ownership of Class A common stock following a redemption or exchange of their EELP interests. See “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions—Proposed Transactions with Excelerate Energy, Inc.—The EELP Limited Partnership Agreement.”
We may be required to pay additional taxes because of the U.S. federal partnership audit rules and potentially also state and local tax rules.
Under the U.S. federal partnership audit rules, subject to certain exceptions, audit adjustments to items of income, gain, loss, deduction, or credit of an entity (and any holder’s share thereof) is determined, and taxes, interest, and penalties attributable thereto, are assessed and collected, at the entity level. EELP (or any of its applicable subsidiaries or other entities in which EELP directly or indirectly invests that are treated as partnerships for U.S. federal income tax purposes) may be required to pay additional taxes, interest and penalties as a result of an audit adjustment, and we, as a partner of EELP (or such other entities), could be required to indirectly bear the economic burden of those taxes, interest, and penalties even though we may not otherwise have been required to pay additional corporate-level taxes as a result of the related audit adjustment. Audit adjustments for state or local tax purposes could similarly result in EELP (or any of its applicable subsidiaries or other entities in which EELP directly or indirectly invests) being required to pay or indirectly bear the economic burden of state or local taxes and associated interest, and penalties.
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Under certain circumstances, EELP or an entity in which EELP directly or indirectly invests may be eligible to make an election to cause partners of EELP (or such other entity) to take into account the amount of any understatement, including any interest and penalties, in accordance with such partner’s share in EELP in the year under audit. We will decide whether or not to cause EELP to make this election; however, there are circumstances in which the election may not be available and, in the case of an entity in which EELP directly or indirectly invests, such decision may be outside of our control. If EELP or an entity in which EELP directly or indirectly invests does not make this election, the then-current partners of EELP could economically bear the burden of the understatement.
If EELP were to become a publicly traded partnership taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, we and EELP might be subject to potentially significant tax inefficiencies, and we would not be able to recover payments previously made by us under the Tax Receivable Agreement, even if the corresponding tax benefits were subsequently determined to have been unavailable due to such status.
We intend to operate such that EELP does not become a publicly traded partnership taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes. A “publicly traded partnership” is an entity that otherwise would be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes, the interests of which are traded on an established securities market or readily tradable on a secondary market or the substantial equivalent thereof. Under certain circumstances, exchanges of EELP interests pursuant to the EELP Limited Partnership Agreement or other transfers of EELP interests could cause EELP to be treated like a publicly traded partnership. From time to time, the U.S. Congress has considered legislation to change the tax treatment of partnerships and there can be no assurance that any such legislation will not be enacted or if enacted will not be adverse to us.
If EELP were to become a publicly traded partnership taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, significant tax inefficiencies might result for us and EELP, including as a result of our inability to file a consolidated U.S. federal income tax return with EELP. In addition, we may not be able to realize tax benefits covered under the Tax Receivable Agreement and would not be able to recover any payments previously made by us under the Tax Receivable Agreement, even if the corresponding tax benefits (including any claimed increase in the tax basis of EELP’s assets) were subsequently determined to have been unavailable.
Future changes to tax laws or applicable tax rates in the jurisdictions where we operate could materially and adversely affect our company and reduce net returns to our stockholders.
Our tax treatment is subject to the enactment of, or changes in, tax laws, regulations and treaties, or the interpretation thereof, tax policy initiatives and reforms under consideration and the practices of tax authorities in various jurisdictions. Such changes may include (but are not limited to) the taxation of operating income, investment income, dividends received or (in the specific context of withholding tax) dividends paid, or the taxation of partnerships and other pass-through entities. As a result, the tax laws in the United States and in jurisdictions in which we do business could change on a prospective or retroactive basis, and any such changes could have an adverse effect on our worldwide tax liabilities, business, financial condition and results of operations. We are unable to predict what tax reform may be proposed or enacted in the future or what effect such changes would have on our business, but such changes, to the extent they are brought into tax legislation, regulations, policies or practices, could affect our financial position and overall or applicable tax rates in the future in countries where we have operations, reduce post-tax returns to our stockholders, and increase the complexity, burden and cost of tax compliance.
Our businesses are subject to income taxation in the United States and in various other jurisdictions. Applicable tax rates may be subject to significant change. If our effective tax rate increases, our operating results and cash flow could be adversely affected. Our effective income tax rate can vary significantly between periods due to a number of complex factors including, but not limited to, projected levels of taxable income in each jurisdiction, tax audits conducted and settled by various tax authorities, and adjustments to income taxes upon finalization of income tax returns.
We depend on key management personnel and other experienced employees.
Our success depends to a significant degree upon the contributions of certain key management personnel, including, but not limited to, Steven Kobos, our President and Chief Executive Officer. There is no guarantee that he will remain employed by us. Our ability to retain our key management personnel or to attract suitable replacements should any members of our management team leave is dependent on the competitive nature of the employment market. The loss of services from key management personnel or a limitation in their availability could materially and
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adversely impact our business, prospects, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations. Further, such a loss could be negatively perceived in the capital markets. We have not obtained key man life insurance that would provide us with proceeds in the event of the death or disability of any of our key management personnel.
Experienced employees in the LNG industry are fundamental to our ability to generate, obtain and manage opportunities and are also highly sought after. Failure to attract and retain such personnel or to ensure that their experience and knowledge is not lost when they leave the business through retirement, redundancy or otherwise may adversely affect the standards of our service and may have an adverse impact on our business, prospects, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related to this Offering and Ownership of Our Class A Common Stock
There is currently no public market for shares of our Class A common stock, a trading market for our Class A common stock may never develop following this offering and our Class A common stock price may be volatile and could decline substantially following this offering.
Prior to this offering, there has been no market for shares of our Class A common stock. Although we intend to list our Class A common stock on the NYSE, an active trading market for the shares of our Class A common stock may never develop, or if one develops, it may not be sustained following this offering. Accordingly, no assurance can be given as to the following:
the likelihood that an active trading market for shares of our Class A common stock will develop or be sustained;
the liquidity of any such market;
the ability of our stockholders to sell their shares of Class A common stock; or
the price that our stockholders may obtain for their Class A common stock.
If an active market does not develop or is not maintained, the market price of our Class A common stock may decline, and you may not be able to sell your shares of our Class A common stock. Even if an active trading market develops for our Class A common stock subsequent to this offering, the market price of our Class A common stock may be highly volatile and subject to wide fluctuations. Our financial performance, government regulatory action, tax laws, interest rates and market conditions in general could have a significant impact on the future market price of our Class A common stock.
Furthermore, in recent years, the stock market has experienced significant price and volume fluctuations. This volatility has had a significant impact on the market price of securities issued by many companies, including companies in our industry. The changes frequently appear to occur without regard to the operating performance of the affected companies. Hence, the price of our Class A common stock could fluctuate based upon factors that have little or nothing to do with our operations, and these fluctuations could materially reduce the price of our Class A common stock and materially affect the value of your investment in our Class A common stock.
The requirements of being a public company, including compliance with the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) and the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, may strain our resources, increase our costs and distract management, and we may be unable to comply with these requirements in a timely or cost-effective manner.
As a public company, we will need to comply with new laws, regulations and requirements, certain corporate governance provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, related regulations of the SEC, including filing quarterly and annual financial statements, and the requirements of the NYSE, with which we are not required to comply as a private company. Complying with these statutes, regulations and requirements will occupy a significant amount of time of our board of directors and management and will significantly increase our costs and expenses. We will need to:
institute a more comprehensive compliance function, including for financial reporting and disclosures;
continue to prepare and distribute periodic public reports in compliance with our obligations under federal securities laws;
comply with rules promulgated by the NYSE;
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continue to prepare and distribute periodic public reports in compliance with our obligations under federal securities laws;
enhance our investor relations function;
establish new internal policies, such as those relating to insider trading; and
involve and retain to a greater degree outside counsel and accountants in the above activities.
The changes necessitated by becoming a public company require a significant commitment of resources and management oversight that has increased, and may continue to increase, our costs and might place a strain on our systems and resources. Such costs could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Furthermore, while we generally must comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for our fiscal year ending December 31, 2022, we are not required to have our independent registered public accounting firm attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting until our first annual report subsequent to our ceasing to be an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(19) of the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”). Accordingly, we may not be required to have our independent registered public accounting firm attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting until as late as our annual report for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2026. Once it is required to do so, our independent registered public accounting firm may issue a report that is adverse in the event it is not satisfied with the level at which our internal control over financial reporting is documented, designed, operated or reviewed or that discloses a material weakness identified by our management in our internal control over financial reporting. Compliance with these requirements may strain our resources, increase our costs and distract management, and we may be unable to comply with these requirements in a timely or cost-effective manner.
In addition, we expect that being a public company subject to these rules and regulations may make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. As a result, it may be more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified individuals to serve on our board of directors or as executive officers. We are currently evaluating these rules, and we cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs.
We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, and we may identify additional material weaknesses in the future or otherwise fail to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, which may result in material misstatements of our financial statements or cause us to fail to meet our periodic reporting obligations, impact investor confidence and the price of our Class A common stock or cause our access to the capital markets to be impaired.
In preparation of our financial statements to meet the requirements applicable to this offering, we identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. If we are unable to remediate these material weaknesses or if additional material weaknesses are identified in the future or otherwise fail to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately or timely report our financial results, which may cause our investors to lose confidence in us and adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock or cause access to capital markets to be impaired.
We did not design and maintain an effective control environment commensurate with public company financial reporting requirements. Specifically, we did not maintain a sufficient complement of personnel with an appropriate degree of internal controls, accounting, tax and information technology (“IT”) knowledge, experience and training to appropriately analyze, record and disclose accounting matters commensurate with accounting and financial reporting requirements.
This material weakness contributed to additional material weaknesses:
we did not design and maintain effective controls over period end financial reporting processes and procedures, controls over significant accounts and disclosures to achieve complete, accurate and timely
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financial accounting, reporting and disclosures, including segregation of duties and controls related to the preparation and review of journal entries. Additionally, we did not design and maintain effective controls to identify and account for the elimination of certain intercompany revenue and expenses;
we did not design and maintain effective controls over the proper timing of revenue recognition for dry-dock revenue contracts;
we did not design and maintain effective controls to analyze compliance with non-financial debt covenants and conditions; and
we did not design and maintain effective controls to verify the completeness and accuracy of our income tax provision.
These material weaknesses resulted in adjustments to FSRU and terminal services revenue, selling, general and administrative expenses and cost of revenue and vessel operating expenses, provision for income taxes and related account balances and disclosures as of and for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 and a misstatement to current and long-term debt as of December 31, 2020 which has since been corrected. These material weaknesses remain unremediated as of December 31, 2021.
We did not design or maintain effective controls over IT general controls for information systems that are relevant to the preparation of our financial statements. Specifically, we did not design and maintain: (i) user access controls to ensure appropriate segregation of duties and that adequately restrict user and privileged access to financial applications, programs and data to appropriate company personnel; (ii) program change management controls to ensure that IT program and data changes affecting financial IT applications and underlying accounting records are identified, tested, authorized and implemented appropriately; (iii) computer operations controls to ensure that critical batch jobs are monitored and data backups are authorized and monitored financial data can be recovered from backups; and (iv) testing and approval controls for program development to ensure that new software development is aligned with business and IT requirements. This material weakness did not result in a material misstatement to the financial statements; however, the deficiencies, when aggregated, could impact maintaining effective segregation of duties, as well as the effectiveness of IT-dependent controls (such as automated controls that address the risk of material misstatement to one or more assertions, along with the IT controls and underlying data that support the effectiveness of system-generated data and reports) that could result in misstatements potentially impacting all financial statement accounts and disclosures that would not be prevented or detected.
Additionally, each of the above material weaknesses could result in a misstatement of our account balances or disclosures that would result in a material misstatement to the annual or interim financial statements that would not be prevented or detected.
To address the material weaknesses, we have implemented, and are continuing to implement, measures designed to improve internal control over financial reporting, including expanding our accounting, tax, IT and finance team to add additional qualified resources, which may include third-party consultants, and implementing new financial processes and controls. We have hired new experienced accounting leadership team members in the following positions: Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer; Director of Financial Reporting; Senior Manager over International Accounting Operations; and Senior Manager over Income Tax Provision. In addition, we have hired a new Vice President over IT and a new Treasurer. We intend to continue to take steps to remediate the material weaknesses through the formalizing of documentation of policies and procedures and further evolving the accounting processes, including implementing appropriate segregation of duties, period end financial review controls including revenue recognition over dry-docks and tax provision as well as adding system controls over journal entry approvals. We are working to remediate the material weaknesses as efficiently and effectively as possible and expect full remediation will go beyond December 31, 2022. At this time, we cannot provide an estimate of costs expected to be incurred in connection with implementing this remediation plan, but these remediation measures will be time consuming, result in us incurring significant costs and place significant demands on our financial and operational resources.
We may not be successful in implementing these changes or in developing other internal controls, which may undermine our ability to provide accurate, timely and reliable reports on our financial and operating results. Further, we will not be able to fully assess whether the steps that we are taking will remediate the material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting until we have completed our design and implementation efforts, the controls have operated for a sufficient period of time and management has concluded, through testing, that these controls are
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operating effectively. In addition, until we remediate these weaknesses, or if we identify additional material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, we may not detect misstatements on a timely basis and our financial statements may be materially misstated. Moreover, in the future we may engage in business transactions, such as acquisitions, reorganizations or implementation of new information systems that could negatively affect our internal control over financial reporting and result in material weaknesses.
The initial public offering price of our Class A common stock may not be indicative of the market price of our Class A common stock after this offering. In addition, an active, liquid and orderly trading market for our Class A common stock may not develop or be maintained, and our stock price may be volatile.
Prior to this offering, our Class A common stock was not traded on any market. An active, liquid and orderly trading market for our Class A common stock may not develop or be maintained after this offering. Active, liquid and orderly trading markets usually result in less price volatility and more efficiency in carrying out investors’ purchase and sale orders. The market price of our Class A common stock could vary significantly as a result of a number of factors, some of which are beyond our control. In the event of a drop in the market price of our Class A common stock, you could lose a substantial part or all of your investment in our Class A common stock. The initial public offering price will be negotiated between us and the representatives of the underwriters, based on numerous factors and may not be indicative of the market price of our Class A common stock after this offering. See “Underwriting (Conflicts of Interest)” in this prospectus for additional information. Consequently, you may not be able to sell shares of our Class A common stock at prices equal to or greater than the price paid by you in this offering.
The following factors, among others, could affect our stock price:
our operating and financial performance;
quarterly variations in the rate of growth of our financial indicators, such as net income per share, net income and revenues;
the public reaction to our press releases, our other public announcements and our filings with the SEC;
strategic actions by our competitors;
changes in revenue or earnings estimates, or changes in recommendations or withdrawals of research coverage, by equity research analysts;
market and industry perception of our success, or lack thereof, in pursuing our growth strategies;
introductions or announcements of new products offered by us or significant acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments by us or our competitors and the timing of such introductions or announcements;
our ability to effectively manage our growth;
the impact of pandemics on us and the national and global economies;
speculation in the press or investment community;
the failure of research analysts to cover our Class A common stock;
whether investors or securities analysts view our stock structure unfavorably, particularly the significant voting control of our executive officers, directors and their affiliates;
our ability or inability to raise additional capital through the issuance of equity or debt or other arrangements and the terms on which we raise it;
additional shares of our Class A common stock being sold into the market by us or our existing stockholders, or the anticipation of such sales, including if existing stockholders sell shares into the market when applicable “lock-up” periods end;
changes in accounting principles, policies, guidance, interpretations or standards;
additions or departures of key management personnel;
actions by our stockholders;
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changes in operating performance and stock market valuations of companies in our industry, including our vendors and competitors;
trading volume of our Class A common stock;
price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market, including as a result of trends in the economy as a whole and those resulting from natural disasters, severe weather events, terrorist attacks and responses to such events;
lawsuits threatened or filed against us;
domestic and international economic, legal and regulatory factors unrelated to our performance;
privacy or cybersecurity breaches, data theft or other security incidents or failure to comply with applicable data privacy laws, rules and regulations;
our ability to obtain, maintain, protect, defend and enforce our intellectual property; and
the realization of any risks described under this “Risk Factors” section.
The stock markets in general have experienced extreme volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the trading price of our Class A common stock. Securities class action litigation has often been instituted against companies following periods of volatility in the overall market and in the market price of a company’s securities. Such litigation, if instituted against us, could result in very substantial costs, divert our management’s attention and resources and harm our business, operating results and financial condition.
Investors in this offering will experience immediate and substantial dilution of $8.47 per share.
Based on the assumed initial public offering price of $22.50 per share (the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover of this prospectus), purchasers of our Class A common stock in this offering will experience an immediate and substantial dilution of $8.47 per share in the as adjusted net tangible book value per share of Class A common stock from the initial public offering price, and our adjusted pro forma net tangible book value as of December 31, 2021, after giving effect to this offering would have been $14.03 per share. This dilution is due in large part to earlier investors having paid less than the initial public offering price when they purchased their shares. See “Dilution” in this prospectus for additional information.
Future offerings of debt securities, which would rank senior to our Class A common stock upon our bankruptcy or liquidation, and future offerings of equity securities that may be senior to our Class A common stock for the purposes of dividend and liquidation distributions, may adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock.
In the future, we may attempt to increase our capital resources by making offerings of debt securities or additional offerings of equity securities. Upon bankruptcy or liquidation, holders of our debt securities and shares of preferred stock and lenders with respect to other borrowings will receive a distribution of our available assets prior to the holders of our Class A common stock. Additional equity offerings may dilute the holdings of our existing stockholders or reduce the market price of our Class A common stock, or both. Our preferred stock will have a preference on liquidating distributions and dividend payments, which could limit our ability to make a dividend distribution to the holders of our Class A common stock. Our decision to issue securities in any future offering will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control. As a result, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing or nature of our future offerings, and purchasers of our Class A common stock in this offering bear the risk of our future offerings reducing the market price of our Class A common stock and diluting their ownership interest in our company.
Kaiser will have the ability to direct the voting of a majority of the voting power of our common stock, and his interests may conflict with those of our other stockholders.
Upon consummation of this offering, our common stock will consist of two classes: Class A and Class B. Holders of Class A common stock and Class B common stock are entitled to one vote per share. Holders of Class A common stock and Class B common stock will vote together as a single class on all matters presented to our stockholders for their vote or approval, except as otherwise required by our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or by applicable law. Upon completion of this offering (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’
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option to purchase additional shares of our Class A common stock and after the transactions described herein under “Organizational Structure—The Reorganization”), Kaiser will, through his ownership of EE Holdings, indirectly own 100% of our Class B common stock (representing 77.0% of the total combined voting power of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock).
As a result, Kaiser, through his ownership of EE Holdings, will have the right to designate a certain number of nominees for election to our board of directors and will be able to control matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election and removal of directors, changes to our organizational documents, any material change in the nature of the business or operations of our company and our subsidiaries, taken as a whole, as of the date of the Stockholder’s Agreement (as defined herein), and significant corporate transactions, including any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets for so long as EE Holdings beneficially owns (directly or indirectly) a certain percentage of our outstanding voting power. For more information on Kaiser’s rights, through his ownership of EE Holdings, with respect to designating a certain number of nominees to our board of directors and consenting to certain significant actions, see “Certain Relationships and Related Person Transactions—Proposed Transactions with Excelerate Energy, Inc.—Stockholder’s Agreement.” This concentration of ownership makes it unlikely that any holder or group of holders of our Class A common stock will be able to affect the way we are managed or the direction of our business. The interests of Kaiser with respect to matters potentially or actually involving or affecting us, such as future acquisitions, financings and other corporate opportunities and attempts to acquire us, may conflict with the interests of our other stockholders. Kaiser would have to approve any potential acquisition of us. The existence of significant stockholders may have the effect of deterring hostile takeovers, delaying or preventing changes in control or changes in management or limiting the ability of our other stockholders to approve transactions that they may deem to be in our best interests. Kaiser’s concentration of stock ownership may also adversely affect the trading price of our Class A common stock to the extent investors perceive a disadvantage in owning stock of a company with significant stockholders.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will include an exclusive forum clause, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or agents.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that, unless we, in writing, select or consent to the selection of an alternative forum, all complaints asserting any internal corporate claims (defined as claims, including claims in the right of our company: (i) that are based upon a violation of a duty by a current or former director, officer, employee, or stockholder in such capacity; or (ii) as to which the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) confers jurisdiction upon the Court of Chancery), to the fullest extent permitted by law, and subject to applicable jurisdictional requirements, shall be the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or, if the Court of Chancery does not have, or declines to accept, subject matter jurisdiction, another state court or a federal court located within the State of Delaware). Further, unless we select or consent to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. Our choice-of-forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act, and investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. These choice-of-forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and such persons. Alternatively, if a court were to find these provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock is deemed to have notice of and consented to the foregoing provisions. See the section entitled “Description of Capital Stock—Exclusive Forum Clause.”
We cannot assure you that we will pay dividends on our Class A common stock, and our indebtedness could limit our ability to pay dividends on our Class A common stock.
After the completion of this offering, we intend to pay cash dividends on our Class A common stock, subject to our compliance with applicable law. Any determination to pay dividends to holders of our common stock will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend upon many factors, including our financial condition,
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results of operations, projections, liquidity, earnings, legal requirements, covenant compliance, restrictions in our existing and any future debt agreements and other factors that our board of directors deems relevant. Our financing arrangements, including our new credit facility, place certain direct and indirect restrictions on our ability to pay cash dividends. For more information about these restrictions, see “Dividend Policy.” Therefore, there can be no assurance that we will pay any dividends to holders of our Class A common stock or as to the amount of any such dividends. In addition, our historical results of operations, including cash flow, are not indicative of future financial performance, and our actual results of operations could differ significantly from our historical results of operations. We have not adopted, and do not currently expect to adopt, a separate written dividend policy. For more information, see “Dividend Policy.”
Sales of substantial amounts of our Class A common stock in the public markets, or the perception that they might occur, could reduce the price that our Class A common stock might otherwise attain and may dilute your voting power and your ownership interest in us.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Class A common stock in the public market after this offering, particularly sales by our directors, executive officers and significant stockholders, or the perception that these sales could occur, could adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock and may make it more difficult for you to sell your Class A common stock at a time and price that you deem appropriate. Upon completion of this offering, we will have 24,377,778 shares of Class A common stock outstanding and 81,497,778 shares of Class B common stock outstanding, assuming no exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase additional shares of our Class A common stock.
All of the shares of Class A common stock sold in this offering will be freely tradable without restrictions or further registration under the Securities Act, except for any shares held by our affiliates as defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act (“Rule 144”).
We are offering 16,000,000 shares of our Class A common stock as described in this prospectus (excluding the underwriters’ option to purchase up to 2,400,000 additional shares of our Class A common stock). In connection with this offering, certain independent directors and employees, including members of our management team, will be granted equity awards with an aggregate grant date fair value of approximately $5.0 million pursuant to our LTI Plan. The actual number of shares subject to such equity awards will be based upon the price at which the shares are sold to the public in this offering. In connection with this offering, we intend to file a registration statement on Form S-8 to register the total number of shares of our Class A common stock that may be issued under our LTI Plan, including the equity awards described above.
Subject to certain exceptions, we, our officers and directors and record holders of substantially all of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock and purchasers of shares through the directed share program have agreed not to offer, sell or agree to sell, directly or indirectly, any shares of capital stock without the permission of Barclays Capital Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC on behalf of the underwriters, for a period of 180 days from the date of this prospectus. See “Underwriting (Conflicts of Interest)” for more information on these agreements. When such lock-up period expires, we and our security holders will be able to sell our Class A common stock, subject to the limitations set forth in the lock-up agreements, in the public market. In addition, Barclays Capital Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC may, in their sole discretion, release all or some portion of the shares subject to the lock-up agreements prior to the expiration of the lock-up period. See “Shares Eligible for Future Sale” for more information. Sales of a substantial number of our Class A common stock upon expiration of the lock-up agreements, or the perception that such sales may occur, or early release of the lock-up agreements, could cause our market price to fall or make it more difficult for you to sell your Class A common stock at a time and price that you deem appropriate.
Pursuant to a Registration Rights Agreement that we will enter into with EE Holdings and the Foundation (the “Registration Rights Agreement”), and subject to the lock-up agreements described above, EE Holdings and the Foundation will have rights to require us to file registration statements covering the sale of an aggregate of 89,875,556 shares of our Class A common stock, which consist of (i) Class A common stock issuable to EE Holdings upon exchange of its corresponding Class B interests of EELP and (ii) Class A common stock held by the Foundation, or to include such shares in registration statements that we may file for ourselves or other stockholders. See “Certain Relationships and Related Person Transactions—Proposed Transactions with Excelerate Energy, Inc.—Registration Rights Agreement.”
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We may also issue our shares of Class A common stock or securities convertible into shares of our Class A common stock from time to time in connection with a financing, acquisition, investment or otherwise. Any such issuance could result in substantial dilution to our existing stockholders and cause the market price of our Class A common stock to decline.
The underwriters of this offering may waive or release parties to the lock-up agreements entered into in connection with this offering, which could adversely affect the price of our Class A common stock.
We, our officers and directors and holders of substantially all our Class A common stock have entered or will enter into lock-up agreements pursuant to which we and they will be subject to certain restrictions with respect to the sale or other disposition of our Class A common stock for a period of 180 days following the date of this prospectus. Barclays Capital Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, at any time and without notice, may release all or any portion of the Class A common stock subject to the foregoing lock-up agreements. See “Underwriting (Conflicts of Interest)” for more information on these agreements. If the restrictions under the lock-up agreements are waived, then the Class A common stock, subject to compliance with the Securities Act or exceptions therefrom, will be available for sale into the public markets, which could cause the market price of our Class A common stock to decline and impair our ability to raise capital.
Provisions in our governing documents and under Delaware law, as well as Kaiser’s indirect beneficial ownership of all of our outstanding Class B common stock, could make an acquisition of us more difficult, limit attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management, and may adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock.
Some provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws, each to be in effect upon the completion of this offering, could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire control of us, even if the change in control would be beneficial to our stockholders. These provisions could also make it difficult for stockholders to elect directors that are not nominated by the current members of our board of directors or take other corporate actions, including effecting changes in our management. Among other things, these provisions include:
providing for two classes of stock;
authorizing the issuance of “blank check” preferred stock that could be issued by our board of directors to increase the number of outstanding shares and thwart a takeover attempt;
from and after such time as EE Holdings (including its permitted transferees) ceases to beneficially own at least 40% of the combined voting power of our then-outstanding capital stock entitled to vote generally in director elections (the “Trigger Date”), establishing a classified board of directors, with each class serving three-year staggered terms, so that not all members of our board of directors are elected at one time;
from and after such time as our board is classified, providing that directors can be removed only for cause and only by the affirmative vote of at least 6623% of the voting power of the stock outstanding and entitled to vote on the election of directors, voting together as a single class;
prohibiting the use of cumulative voting for the election of directors;
from and after the Trigger Date, eliminating the ability of stockholders to call special meetings and prohibiting stockholder action by written consent and instead requiring stockholder actions to be taken at a meeting of our stockholders;
from and after the Trigger Date, providing that only the board can fill vacancies on the board of directors;
from and after the Trigger Date, requiring the approval of the holders of at least 6623% of voting power of the stock outstanding and entitled to vote thereon, voting together as a single class, to amend or repeal our bylaws and certain provisions of our certificate of incorporation;
establishing advance notice provisions for stockholder proposals and nominations for elections to the board of directors to be acted upon at meetings of stockholders; and
providing that the board of directors is expressly authorized to adopt, or to alter or repeal, our bylaws.
In addition, Section 203 of the DGCL prohibits a publicly held Delaware corporation from engaging in a business combination with an interested stockholder, unless the business combination is approved in a prescribed
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manner. An interested stockholder includes a person, individually or together with any other interested stockholder, who within the last three years has owned 15% of our voting stock. Although we will opt out of Section 203, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will contain provisions that have the same effect as Section 203, except that they will provide that Kaiser and his successors (other than our company), as well as their direct and indirect transferees, will not be deemed to be “interested stockholders,” regardless of the percentage of our voting stock owned by them, and accordingly will not be subject to such restrictions. For additional details, see the section entitled “Description of Capital Stock.”
Upon the completion of this offering, Kaiser, through his indirect beneficial ownership of all of our outstanding Class B common stock, will control approximately 77% of the total combined voting power of our outstanding Class A common stock and Class B common stock, which will give him the ability to prevent a potential takeover of our company. If a change in control or change in management is delayed or prevented, the market price of our Class A common stock could decline.
We expect to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the NYSE rules and, as a result, will qualify for, and intend to rely on exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements.
Upon completion of this offering, Kaiser will indirectly beneficially own a majority of our voting power for the election of our directors. As a result, we expect to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the NYSE corporate governance standards. Under the NYSE rules, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power with respect to director elections is held by another person or group of persons acting together is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain NYSE corporate governance requirements, including the requirements that:
a majority of such company’s board of directors consist of independent directors;
such company have a nominating and governance committee that is composed entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing such committee’s purpose and responsibilities;
such company have a compensation committee that is composed entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing such committee’s purpose and responsibilities; and
such company conduct an annual performance evaluation of the nominating and governance and compensation committees.
These requirements will not apply to us as long as we remain a controlled company. We intend to rely on all of the controlled company exemptions and will be required to do so under the Stockholder's Agreement that we plan to enter into with EE Holdings (the “Stockholder’s Agreement”) for so long as we remain a controlled company and EE Holdings holds director designation rights pursuant to the Stockholder's Agreement. For details, see “Certain Relationships and Related Person Transactions—Proposed Transactions with Excelerate Energy, Inc.—Stockholder’s Agreement” below. Accordingly, you may not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the NYSE corporate governance requirements. See “Management” in this prospectus for additional information.
For as long as we are an emerging growth company, we will not be required to comply with certain reporting requirements, including those relating to accounting standards and disclosure about our executive compensation, that apply to other public companies.
We are classified as an “emerging growth company” under the JOBS Act. For as long as we are an emerging growth company, which may be up to five full fiscal years, unlike other public companies, we will not be required to, among other things: (i) provide an auditor’s attestation report on management’s assessment of the effectiveness of our system of internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act; (ii) comply with any new requirements adopted by the PCAOB requiring mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report in which the auditor would be required to provide additional information about the audit and the financial statements of the issuer; (iii) provide certain disclosure regarding executive compensation required of larger public companies; or (iv) hold nonbinding advisory votes on executive compensation. We will remain an emerging growth company for up to five years, although we will lose that status sooner if we have more than $1.07 billion of revenues in a fiscal year, have more than $700.0 million in market value of our Class A common stock held by non-affiliates, or issue more than $1.0 billion of non-convertible debt over a three-year period.
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To the extent that we rely on any of the exemptions available to emerging growth companies, you will receive less information about our executive compensation and internal control over financial reporting than issuers that are not emerging growth companies. If some investors find our Class A common stock to be less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our Class A common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.
The historical and pro forma financial information in this prospectus may make it difficult to accurately predict our costs of operations in the future.
The historical financial information in this prospectus does not reflect the added costs we expect to incur as a public company or the resulting changes that will occur in our capital structure and operations. Our actual experience as a public company may vary significantly from the estimates we used in our pro forma financial information. For more information on our historical financial information and pro forma financial information, see “Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Consolidated Financial Information,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” “Organizational Structure—The Reorganization” and our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus.
The price per share of our Class A common stock may be highly volatile. Future sales of our Class A common stock could cause the market price of our shares of Class A common stock to decline and could lead to a loss of all or part of a shareholder’s investment.
The market price of shares of our Class A common stock may experience extreme volatility in response to many factors, including factors that may be unrelated to our operating performance or prospects such as actual or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly or annual results and those of other public companies in our industry, the suspension of our dividend payments, mergers and strategic alliances in the shipping industry, market conditions in the LNG shipping industry, shortfalls in our operating results from levels forecast by securities analysts, announcements concerning us or our competitors, business interruptions caused by the global Covid-19 outbreak, the general state of the securities market and other factors, many of which are beyond our control.
Furthermore, following periods of volatility in the market, securities class-action litigation has often been instituted against companies. Such litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and diversion of management’s attention and resources, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. Therefore, there can be no guarantee that our stock price will remain at current prices and we cannot assure our shareholders that they will be able to sell any of our Class A common stock that they may have purchased at a price greater than or equal to the original purchase price.
Additionally, sales of a substantial number of shares our Class A common stock in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, may depress the market price for our Class A common stock. These sales could also impair our ability to raise additional capital through the sale of our equity securities in the future.
We have broad discretion to use the proceeds from this offering, and our investment of those proceeds may not yield a favorable return.
Our management has broad discretion to spend the proceeds from this offering in ways with which you may not agree. The failure of our management to apply these funds effectively could result in unfavorable returns. This could harm our business and could cause the price of our Class A common stock to decline.
If we fail to meet the expectations of analysts or investors, our share price could decline substantially.
In some quarters, our results may be below analysts’ or investors’ expectations. If this occurs, the price of our Class A common stock could decline. Important factors that could cause our revenue and operating results to fluctuate from quarter to quarter include, but are not limited to:
prevailing economic and market conditions in the natural gas and energy markets;
negative global or regional economic or political conditions, particularly in LNG-consuming regions, which could reduce energy consumption or its growth;
declines in demand for LNG or the services of LNGCs or FSRUs or;
increases in the supply of LNGC capacity operating in the spot market or the supply of FSRUs;
marine disasters; war, piracy or terrorism; environmental accidents; or inclement weather conditions;
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mechanical failures or accidents involving any of our vessels; and
drydock scheduling and capital expenditures.
Most of these factors are not within our control, and the occurrence of one or more of them may cause our operating results to vary widely.
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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This prospectus contains forward-looking statements about us and our industry that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this prospectus, including, without limitation, statements regarding our future results of operations or financial condition, business strategy and plans, expansion plans and strategy, economic conditions, both generally and in particular in the regions in which we operate or plan to operate, and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “consider,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will” or “would” or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions.
You should not rely on forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. We have based the forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus primarily on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition and operating results. The outcome of the events described in these forward-looking statements is subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors described in the section titled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus, including, but not limited to, the following:
our ability to enter into contracts with customers and our customers’ failure to perform their contractual obligations;
customer termination rights in our contracts;
the risks inherent in operating our FSRUs and other LNG infrastructure assets;
the technical complexity of our FSRUs and LNG import terminals and related operational problems;
cancellations, time delays, unforeseen expenses and other complications while developing our projects;
our inability to develop a project successfully and our customers’ failure to fulfill their payment obligations to us following our capital investment in a project;
the failure of our regasification terminals and other facilities to operate as expected or be completed;
our need for substantial expenditures to maintain and replace, over the long-term, the operating capacity of our fleet, regasification terminals and associated assets, pipelines and downstream infrastructure;
our reliance on our EPC contractors and other contractors for the successful completion of our energy-related infrastructure;
shortages of qualified officers and crew impairing our ability to operate or increasing the cost of crewing our vessels;
uncertainty related to construction costs, development timelines, third-party subcontractors and equipment manufacturers required to perform our development services;
our ability to obtain and maintain approvals and permits from governmental and regulatory agencies with respect to the design, construction and operation of our facilities and provision of our services;
our ability to maintain relationships with our customers and existing suppliers, source new suppliers for LNG and critical components of our projects and complete building out our supply chain;
our ability to connect with third-party pipelines, power plants and other facilities that provide gas receipt and delivery downstream of our integrated terminals;
our ability to purchase or receive physical delivery of LNG in sufficient quantities to satisfy our delivery obligations under GSAs or at attractive prices;
changes in the demand for and price of LNG and natural gas and LNG regasification capacity;
the competitive market for LNG regasification services;
fluctuations in hire rates for FSRUs;
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infrastructure constraints and community and political group resistance to existing and new LNG and natural gas infrastructure over concerns about the environment, safety and terrorism;
outbreaks of epidemic and pandemic diseases and governmental responses thereto;
our ability to access financing sources on favorable terms;
our debt level and finance lease liabilities, which may limit our flexibility in obtaining additional financing, refinancing credit facilities upon maturity;
the effects of international conflicts, including sanctions, retaliatory measures and changes in the availability and prices of LNG, natural gas and oil resulting from the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, on our business, customers, industry and outlook;
volatility of the global financial markets and uncertain economic conditions, including as a result of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia;
our financing agreements, which include financial restrictions and covenants and are secured by certain of our vessels;
compliance with various international treaties and conventions and national and local environmental, health, safety and maritime conduct laws that affect our operations;
our dependence upon distributions from our subsidiaries to pay dividends, if any, taxes and other expenses and make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement;
the requirement that we pay over to the TRA Beneficiaries most of the tax benefits we receive;
payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement being accelerated and/or significantly exceeding the tax benefits, if any, that we actually realize;
the possibility that EELP will be required to make distributions to us and the other partners of EELP;
the material weaknesses identified in our internal control over financial reporting;
Kaiser having the ability to direct the voting of a majority of the voting power of our common stock, and his interests may conflict with those of our other stockholders;
our ability to pay dividends on our Class A common stock;
our status as an emerging growth company;
the possibility that circumstances preclude any of our director nominees from joining our board of directors;
other risks and uncertainties inherent in our business; and
other risks, uncertainties and factors set forth in this prospectus, including those set forth under “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Business.”
Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all risks and uncertainties that could have an impact on the forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus. The unprecedented nature of the Covid-19 pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia may give rise to risks that are currently unknown or amplify the risks associated with many of the foregoing events or factors. The results, events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur, and actual results, events or circumstances could differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.
In addition, statements that “we believe” and similar statements reflect our beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based on information available to us as of the date of this prospectus. And while we believe that information provides a reasonable basis for these statements, that information may be limited or incomplete. Our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all relevant information. These statements are inherently uncertain, and investors are cautioned not to unduly rely on these statements.
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The forward-looking statements made in this prospectus relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this prospectus to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this prospectus or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures or investments.
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ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
On September 10, 2021, Excelerate was incorporated as a Delaware corporation. Prior to this offering, Excelerate had no business operations. Our business is expected to be conducted through EELP and its subsidiaries.
Historical Ownership Structure
We currently conduct our business through EELP, its subsidiaries and entities consolidated under the variable interest entity model, and we lease the Foundation Vessels to utilize them in our business. Immediately before the Reorganization described below, EE Holdings was the sole limited partner of EELP, and Excelerate Energy, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of EE Holdings, was the general partner in EELP. Substantially all of EE Holdings is owned by Kaiser and Excelerate Holdings, LLC, an Oklahoma limited liability company classified as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
In September 2021, EE Holdings contributed to EELP all of the direct and indirect interests in each of Excelerate New England Lateral, LLC, Excelerate Northeast Gateway Energy Bridge, LP, and Excelerate New England GP, LLC (the “Northeast Gateway Companies”).
The Reorganization
The following actions will be taken in connection with the closing of this offering:
EE Holdings will amend and restate the limited partnership agreement of EELP (the “EELP Limited Partnership Agreement”) whereby, all of the outstanding interests of EELP will be recapitalized into Class B interests and EELP will be authorized to issue Class A interests. Subject to certain limitations, the EELP Limited Partnership Agreement will permit Class B interests to be exchanged for shares of Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis or, at Excelerate’s election, for cash. See “Certain Relationships and Related Person Transactions—Proposed Transactions with Excelerate Energy, Inc.—The EELP Limited Partnership Agreement.”
Excelerate will amend and restate its certificate of incorporation to, among other things, provide for Class A common stock and Class B common stock. See “Description of Capital Stock.”
Excelerate will contribute shares of Class A common stock with a fair market value of $188.5 million to EELP in exchange for an equal number of Class A interests in EELP.
In exchange for (i) shares of Class A common stock with a fair market value (based on the public offering price) of $188.5 million (which is equal to 8,377,778 shares of Class A common stock assuming a public offering price equal to the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover of this prospectus), (ii) a cash payment of $50.0 million and (iii) $21.5 million of estimated future payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement, EELP will purchase from Maya Maritime LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Foundation, the Foundation Vessels pursuant to a securities purchase agreement. Each $1.00 increase or decrease in the assumed initial public offering price of $22.50 per share of Class A common stock (the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover of this prospectus) would increase or decrease the number of shares of Class A common stock exchanged for the Foundation Vessels by approximately 375,000 shares, which would increase or decrease the Foundation’s indirect ownership percentage of our common stock by approximately 0.3%.
Excelerate will sell to the underwriters in this offering 16,000,000 shares of our Class A common stock (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares).
Excelerate will issue to EE Holdings all of our outstanding shares of Class B common stock. In connection with the issuance of Class B common stock to EELP, Excelerate (or a wholly owned subsidiary of Excelerate) will be admitted as the general partner of EELP.
Excelerate Energy, LLC will distribute to EE Holdings all of its interests in EELP, and EE Holdings will contribute to EELP all of its interests in Excelerate Energy, LLC, which will be dissolved at a later date.
Excelerate will enter into the Tax Receivable Agreement for the benefit of the TRA Beneficiaries, pursuant to which Excelerate will pay 85% of the amount of the net cash tax savings, if any, that Excelerate is deemed to realize as a result of (i) certain increases in the tax basis of assets of EELP and its subsidiaries resulting from exchanges of EELP partnership interests in the future, (ii) certain tax attributes of EELP and
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subsidiaries of EELP (including the existing tax basis of assets owned by EELP or its subsidiaries and the tax basis of the Foundation Vessels) that exist as of the time of this offering or may exist at the time when Class B interests of EELP are exchanged for shares of Class A common stock, and (iii) certain other tax benefits related to Excelerate entering into the Tax Receivable Agreement, including tax benefits attributable to payments that Excelerate makes under the Tax Receivable Agreement. See “Certain Relationships and Related Person Transactions—Proposed Transactions with Excelerate Energy, Inc.—Tax Receivable Agreement.”
We will enter into the Registration Rights Agreement to provide for certain rights and restrictions after the offering. See “Certain Relationships and Related Person Transactions—Proposed Transactions with Excelerate Energy, Inc.—Registration Rights Agreement.”
Our Class B Common Stock
Following the completion of this offering and the Reorganization, EE Holdings will hold all of the shares of our outstanding Class B common stock. The Class B common stock entitles the holder to one vote. Currently, the partners of EELP consist solely of our pre-initial public offering owners. However, we may in the future issue shares of Class B common stock to one or more new or existing partners of EELP to whom Class B interests are also issued, for example in connection with the contribution of assets to us or EELP by such partner. Accordingly, as a holder of both Class B interests and Class B common stock, any such holder of Class B common stock would be entitled to a number of votes equal to the number of Class B interests held by it. If at any time the ratio at which Class B interests are exchangeable for shares of our Class A common stock changes from one-for-one, for example, as a result of conversion rate adjustments for stock splits, stock dividends or reclassifications, the number of votes to which Class B common stockholders are entitled will be adjusted accordingly. Holders of shares of our Class B common stock vote together with holders of our Class A common stock as a single class on all matters on which stockholders are entitled to vote generally, except as otherwise provided in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or required by law. See “Description of Capital Stock—Common Stock—Class B Common Stock—Voting.”
As the only Class B stockholder following the completion of this offering and the Reorganization, EE Holdings will initially have 77.0% of the combined voting power of our common stock (or 75.3% if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares of Class A common stock in full). When a Class B interest is exchanged for a share of our Class A common stock, the corresponding share of our Class B common stock will automatically be canceled.
Our Class A Common Stock
We expect 24,377,778 shares of our Class A common stock to be outstanding after this offering (or 26,777,778 shares if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full), all of which will either be sold pursuant to this offering or issued as consideration for the acquisition of assets from the Foundation as described above.
The Class A common stock outstanding will represent 100% of the rights of the holders of all classes of our outstanding common stock to share in distributions from Excelerate, except for the right of Class B stockholders to receive the par value of the Class B common stock upon our liquidation, dissolution or winding up or an exchange of Class B interests of EELP.
Registration Rights
Pursuant to the Registration Rights Agreement, we will grant EE Holdings the right to require us to file registration statements in order to register the resales of the shares of our Class A common stock that are issuable to EE Holdings upon exchange of its Class B interests, and we will grant the Foundation the right to require us to file registration statements in order to register the resales of its shares of our Class A common stock. See “Certain Relationships and Related Person Transactions—Proposed Transactions with Excelerate Energy, Inc.—Registration Rights Agreement” for a description of the timing and manner of sale limitations on resales of these shares.
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Post-Offering Holding Company Structure
Our post-offering holding company structure is commonly referred to as an “UP-C” structure, which is commonly used by partnerships and limited liability companies undertaking an initial public offering. The UP-C approach provides the existing owners with the tax advantage of continuing to own interests in a pass-through structure and provides potential future tax benefits for the public company and economic benefits for the existing partners when they ultimately exchange their pass-through interests for shares of Class A common stock. See “Certain Relationships and Related Person Transactions—Proposed Transactions with Excelerate Energy, Inc.—Tax Receivable Agreement.”
Excelerate will be a holding company. Following this offering, its only business will be to act as the general partner (or owner of the general partner) of EELP, and its only material assets will be Class A interests representing approximately 23.0% of EELP interests (or 24.7% if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares of Class A common stock in full), which Excelerate will hold directly or indirectly. In its capacity as the general partner (or owner of the general partner), Excelerate will operate and control all of EELP’s business and affairs. We will consolidate the financial results of EELP and will report non-controlling interests related to the interests held by the other partners of EELP in our consolidated financial statements. The partnership interests of EELP owned by us (directly or indirectly) will be classified as Class A interests, and the remaining approximately 77.0% of EELP interests (or 75.3% if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares of Class A common stock in full), which will continue to be held by EE Holdings, will be classified as Class B interests. See “Prospectus Summary—Organizational Structure” for a diagram that depicts our organizational structure following the completion of the Reorganization and this offering (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares).
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USE OF PROCEEDS
We estimate that our net proceeds from this offering, based on an assumed initial public offering price of $22.50 per share of Class A common stock (the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover of this prospectus), after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions but before deducting expenses of this offering and the Reorganization payable by us, will be approximately $340.2 million, or approximately $391.2 million if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of Class A common stock.
Each $1.00 increase or decrease in the assumed initial public offering price of $22.50 per share of Class A common stock (the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover of this prospectus) would increase or decrease the net proceeds to us from this offering by approximately $15.1 million, or approximately $17.4 million if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of Class A common stock, assuming that the number of shares of Class A common stock offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions but before deducting expenses of this offering and the Reorganization payable by us. Similarly, each increase or decrease of one million in the number of shares of Class A common stock offered by us would increase or decrease the net proceeds to us from this offering by approximately $21.3 million, or approximately $24.5 million if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of Class A common stock, assuming no change in the assumed initial public offering price of $22.50 per share and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions but before deducting expenses of this offering and the Reorganization payable by us.
The principal purposes of this offering are to increase our financial flexibility, create a public market for our Class A common stock, and facilitate our future access to the capital markets. We intend to use $340.2 million of the net proceeds from this offering to purchase newly issued EELP interests, at a per-interest price equal to the per-share price paid by the underwriters for shares of our Class A common stock in this offering, and to cause EELP to use the proceeds as follows:
approximately $281.0 million of the net proceeds of this offering to fund our growth strategy, including our projects in Brazil at the Bahia Regasification Terminal, Albania at the Vlora LNG Terminal, the Philippines at the Filipinas LNG Gateway and Bangladesh at the Payra LNG Terminal;
approximately $50.0 million of the net proceeds of this offering to fund in part EELP's purchase of the Foundation Vessels in connection with the Reorganization;
approximately $9.2 million to pay the expenses incurred by us in connection with this offering and the Reorganization; and
other than as set forth below, the remainder for working capital and other general corporate purposes.
The expected use of net proceeds from this offering represents our intentions based upon our present plans and business conditions. We cannot predict with certainty all of the particular uses for the proceeds of this offering or the amounts that we will actually spend on the uses set forth above. Accordingly, our management will have significant flexibility in applying the net proceeds of this offering. The timing and amount of our actual expenditures will be based on many factors, including cash flows from operations and the anticipated growth of our business. Pending their use, we intend to invest the net proceeds of this offering in a variety of capital-preservation investments, including short- and intermediate-term, interest-bearing securities.
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DIVIDEND POLICY
Subject to applicable law, we currently expect that (i) we will pay an annualized cash dividend of $0.10 per share to holders of our Class A common stock on a quarterly basis, which will be funded by an approximately $0.6 million quarterly distribution from EELP to us, and (ii) EELP will make a corresponding annualized distribution of $0.10 per interest to the holders of its Class B interests, resulting in an approximately $2.0 million quarterly distribution to such interest holders. We expect that these quarterly dividends will commence in the second quarter of 2022 and be paid in the third quarter of 2022. Based on our historical and expected future cash flow, including the expected net proceeds of this offering and funds expected to be available to us under our new credit facility, we believe that we have a reasonable basis for setting the initial total quarterly dividend at approximately $2.6 million per quarter. However, there is no assurance that this initial dividend amount will be sustained or that we will continue to pay dividends in the future. Any determination to pay dividends to holders of our common stock will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend upon many factors, including our financial condition, results of operations, projections, liquidity, earnings, legal requirements, covenant compliance, restrictions in our existing and any future debt and other factors that our board of directors deems relevant. As discussed in further detail below, our new credit facility places certain restrictions on our ability to pay dividends to holders of our Class A common stock, and the financing arrangements related to two of our vessels and one of our projects include similar restrictions. Therefore, there can be no assurance that we will pay any dividends to holders of our Class A common stock or as to the amount of any such dividends. In addition, our historical results of operations, including cash flow, are not indicative of future financial performance, and our actual results of operations could differ significantly from our historical results of operations. We have not adopted, and do not currently expect to adopt, a separate written dividend policy.
Our new credit facility will restrict the ability of our subsidiaries, including EELP, to pay dividends and distributions to us. There will be exceptions that allow our subsidiaries and us to pay such dividends and distributions, including: (i) the ability to make distributions and dividends so long as, at the time thereof and immediately after giving effect thereto, no default or event of default is ongoing under our new credit facility, liquidity is not less than $150.0 million and the leverage ratio (calculated pursuant to the terms of our new credit facility) is less than or equal to 2.00 to 1.00; (ii) the ability of EELP to make to us, no more than once per fiscal quarter, distributions and dividends in an aggregate amount, for all such distributions and dividends in any fiscal year, not to exceed 1.0% of the aggregate value (calculated on price-per-share basis) of our issued and outstanding equity interests, which aggregate amount, based on the aggregate value of all equity interests expected to be outstanding following the consummation of this offering valued at the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover of this prospectus, would have been approximately $23.8 million, so long as, at the time of the declaration thereof and immediately after giving effect thereto, no default or event of default is ongoing under our new credit facility; (iii) the ability of our subsidiaries to make distributions and dividends to parent entities (including us) in order to reimburse such parent entity for the costs and expenses of being a public company (such as costs and expenses related to compliance with SEC reporting and other requirements, the preparation of financial statements and services rendered by auditors, and other similar costs and expenses); and (iv) the ability of our subsidiaries to make distributions to us in respect of certain taxes and any applicable obligations arising under the Tax Receivable Agreement. In addition, financing arrangements related to two of our vessels and one of our projects allow the lower tier entities to make distributions to EELP, as long as the applicable entity is in compliance with financial covenants, including coverage ratios, and no event of default has occurred thereunder.
Following the Reorganization and this offering, Excelerate will be a holding company and its sole asset will be direct or indirect ownership of the Class A interests of EELP, of which it (or its wholly owned subsidiary) will be the general partner. Subject to funds being legally available, we intend to cause EELP to make distributions to each of its partners, including Excelerate, in an amount intended to enable each partner to pay all applicable taxes on taxable income allocable to such partner and to allow Excelerate to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement, and non-pro rata payments to Excelerate to reimburse it for corporate and other overhead expenses. If the amount of tax distributions to be made exceeds the amount of funds available for distribution, Excelerate will receive a portion of its tax distribution (such portion determined based on the tax rate applicable to Excelerate rather than the assumed tax rate on which tax distributions are generally based) before the other partners receive any distribution. Holders of our Class B common stock will not be entitled to dividends distributed by Excelerate but will share in the distributions made by EELP on a pro rata basis.
To the extent that the tax distributions Excelerate receives exceed the amounts Excelerate actually requires to pay taxes and other expenses and make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement (because of the lower tax rate applicable to Excelerate than the assumed tax rate on which such distributions are based or because a disproportionate
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share of the taxable income of EELP may be required to be allocated to partners in EELP other than Excelerate), our board of directors, in its sole discretion, will make any determination from time to time with respect to the use of any such excess cash so accumulated, including potentially causing Excelerate to contribute such excess cash (net of any operating expenses) to EELP. Concurrently with any potential contribution of such excess cash, in order to maintain the intended economic relationship between the shares of Class A common stock and EELP interests after accounting for such contribution, EELP and Excelerate, as applicable, may undertake ameliorative actions, which may include reverse splits, reclassifications, combinations, subdivisions, stock dividends or adjustments of outstanding interests of EELP and corresponding shares of Class A common stock of Excelerate. To the extent that Excelerate contributes such excess cash to EELP (and undertakes such ameliorative actions), a holder of Class A common stock would not receive distributions in cash and would instead benefit through an increase in the indirect ownership interest in EELP represented by such holder’s Class A common stock. To the extent that Excelerate does not distribute such excess cash as dividends on the Class A common stock or otherwise undertake such ameliorative actions and instead, for example, holds such cash balances, the partners of EELP (not including Excelerate) may benefit from any value attributable to such cash balances as a result of their ownership of Class A common stock following an exchange of their Class B interests for shares of the Class A common stock, notwithstanding that such partners may previously have participated as holders of Class B interests in distributions by EELP that resulted in such excess cash balances at Excelerate.
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CAPITALIZATION
The following table sets forth the cash and capitalization as of December 31, 2021 of EELP on a historical basis and Excelerate on a pro forma basis to give effect to the Reorganization and the issuance and sale of shares of Class A common stock in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $22.50 per share (the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus), after (i) deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us and (ii) the application of the proceeds from this offering, as described under “Use of Proceeds.”
You should read this information together with the information in this prospectus under “Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Consolidated Financial Information,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Description of Capital Stock,” and with the consolidated financial statements and the related notes to those statements included elsewhere in this prospectus.
 
As of December 31, 2021
(in thousands, except per share amounts and interest data)
Historical
EELP
Pro Forma
Excelerate
Cash and cash equivalents(1):
$72,786
$357,511
Debt and finance leases:
 
 
Debt facilities
233,415
233,415
Debt facilities – related party
198,313
198,313
Finance lease liabilities
251,658
251,658
Finance lease liabilities – related party
226,619
New credit facility
Total debt and finance leases:
$910,005
$683,386
Partners’ / stockholders’ equity:
 
 
Equity interest
1,135,769
Related party note receivable
(6,759)
(6,759)
Accumulated other comprehensive loss
(9,178)
(9,178)
Retained Earnings
(18,965)
Non-controlling interest
14,376
1,150,064
Non-controlling interest – ENE Onshore
(130,282)
(130,282)
Class A common stock (no shares authorized, issued and outstanding, actual; 300,000,000 shares authorized, 24,377,778 shares issued and outstanding, pro forma)
24
Class B common stock (no shares authorized, issued and outstanding, actual; 150,000,000 shares authorized, 81,497,778 shares issued and outstanding, pro forma)
81
Additional paid-in capital
500,328
Total consolidated partners’ / stockholders’ equity:
1,003,926
1,485,313
Total capitalization:
$1,913,931
$2,168,699
(1)
Includes approximately $3.7 million of expenses previously paid by EELP in connection with this offering through December 31, 2021.
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DILUTION
If you invest in our Class A common stock, your interest will be diluted to the extent of the difference between the initial public offering price per share of our Class A common stock and the pro forma net tangible book value per share of our Class A common stock immediately after the completion of this offering. Dilution results from the fact that the per share offering price of the Class A common stock is substantially in excess of the book value per share attributable to the existing equity holders.
Our pro forma net tangible book value as of December 31, 2021 was approximately $1,154.3 million, or $10.90 per share. Pro forma net tangible book value represents the amount of total tangible assets less total liabilities, and pro forma net tangible book value per share represents pro forma net tangible book value divided by the number of shares of Class A common stock outstanding, after giving effect to the Reorganization and assuming that all of the Class B partners exchanged their Class B interests outstanding immediately following the completion of the Reorganization and this offering for newly issued shares of our Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis as if such interests were immediately exchangeable.
(in thousands)
 
Pro forma tangible assets
$2,826,992
Pro forma liabilities
1,341,679
Pro forma net tangible book value after this offering
$1,485,313
Less:
 
Proceeds from offering net of underwriting discounts
340,200
Offering expenses
(9,200)
Pro forma net tangible book value as of December 31, 2021
$1,154,313
After giving effect to (i) the Reorganization, (ii) the issuance and sale by us of 16,000,000 shares of our Class A common stock in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $22.50 per share, the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses payable by us and assuming the exchange of all Class B interests outstanding immediately following the completion of the Reorganization and this offering for shares of our Class A common stock as if such interests were immediately exchangeable; and (iii) the application of such proceeds as described in the section entitled “Use of Proceeds,” our net tangible book value, our pro forma net tangible book value as of December 31, 2021 would have been $1,485.3 million, or $14.03 per share. This represents an immediate increase in pro forma net tangible book value of $3.13 per share to existing equity holders and an immediate dilution in net tangible book value of $8.47 per share to new investors.
The following table illustrates this dilution on a per share basis assuming the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional shares:
Assumed initial public offering price per share
 
$22.50
Pro forma net tangible book value per share as of December 31, 2021
$10.90
 
Increase in pro forma net tangible book value per share attributable to new investors
$3.13
 
Pro forma net tangible book value per share after the offering
 
$14.03
Dilution in pro forma net tangible book value per share to new investors
 
$8.47
The information in the preceding table is based on an assumed offering price of $22.50 per share, the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus. A $1.00 increase or decrease in the assumed price per share would increase or decrease, respectively, the pro forma net tangible book value after this offering by approximately $15.1 million and increase or decrease the dilution per share of Class A common stock to new investors in this offering by $0.20 per share, in each case calculated as described above and assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same.
The above discussion and table below are based on the number of shares of our Class A common stock outstanding as of the date of this prospectus and exclude an additional 10,750,000 shares of our Class A common stock reserved for future issuance under the LTI Plan.
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The following table summarizes, on the same pro forma basis as of December 31, 2021, the total number of shares of Class A common stock purchased from us, the total cash consideration paid to us and the average price per share paid by the existing equity holders and by new investors purchasing shares in this offering, assuming that all of the Class B partners exchanged their Class B interests for shares of our Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis as if such interests were immediately exchangeable.
 
Shares purchased(1)
Total consideration(2)
Average
price
per share
 
Number
%
Number
%
Existing stockholders
81,497,778
77%
(3)
%
$
New investors(4)
24,377,778
23%
$548,500,000
100%
$22.50
Total
105,875,556
100%
$548,500,000
100%
$5.18
(1)
If the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full, our existing stockholders would own approximately 75.3% and our new investors would own approximately 24.7% of the total number of shares of our Class A common stock outstanding after this offering.
(2)
If the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full, the total consideration paid by our new investors would be approximately $602,500,000 (or 100%).
(3)
Existing stockholder past contributions to EELP not included.
(4)
Includes the issuance to Maya Maritime LLC of 8,377,778 shares of Class A common stock (assuming a public offering price equal to the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover of this prospectus), which serves as a portion of the consideration for EELP's acquisition of the Foundation Vessels.
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UNAUDITED PRO FORMA CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Excelerate Energy, Inc. (“Excelerate”), the issuer in this offering, is a holding company formed to own an interest in Excelerate Energy Limited Partnership (“EELP”). Following this offering and the transactions related thereto, Excelerate will become, or wholly own, the general partner of EELP.
The following unaudited pro forma condensed consolidated financial information is derived from the historical consolidated financial statements of EELP. The unaudited pro forma condensed consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2021 gives pro forma effect to the Reorganization (see transactions described under “Organizational Structure”), the acquisition of the Foundation Vessels, the consummation of this offering and our intended use of proceeds therefrom after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and other costs of this offering (collectively, the “Transactions”), as though such transactions had occurred as of December 31, 2021. The unaudited pro forma condensed consolidated statements of income for the year ended December 31, 2021 present our consolidated results of operations giving pro forma effect to the Transactions described above as if they had occurred as of January 1, 2021.
The pro forma adjustments are based on available information and upon assumptions that management believes are reasonable in order to reflect, on a pro forma basis, the effect of these transactions on the historical financial information of EELP. The unaudited pro forma condensed consolidated balance sheet and unaudited pro forma condensed consolidated statements of income may not be indicative of the results of operations or financial position that would have occurred had this offering and the related transactions taken place on the dates indicated, or that may be expected to occur in the future. The adjustments are described in the notes to the unaudited pro forma condensed consolidated balance sheet and the unaudited pro forma condensed consolidated statements of income. The unaudited pro forma condensed consolidated financial information and other data should be read in conjunction with “Use of Proceeds” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus.
The pro forma adjustments in the Reorganization, the acquisition of the Foundation Vessels and Offering Adjustments columns principally give effect to:
the Reorganization as described in “Organizational Structure”;
the acquisition of the Foundation Vessels;
the intended use of proceeds from this offering as described in “Use of Proceeds”;
the Tax Receivable Agreement as described in the “Organizational Structure” and “Certain Relationships and Related Person Transactions—Proposed Transactions with Excelerate—Tax Receivable Agreement” sections in this prospectus;
the issuance of 16,000,000 shares of our Class A common stock to the investors in this offering in exchange for net proceeds of approximately $340.2 million (based on an assumed initial public offering price of $22.50 per share, the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus), after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions but before offering expenses;
the payment of fees and expenses related to this offering and the application of the net proceeds from the sale of Class A common stock in this offering to purchase Class A interests directly from EELP, at a purchase price per Class A interest equal to the initial public offering price per share of Class A common stock less the underwriting discount, with such Class A interests representing 23.0% of the outstanding interests of EELP; and
the provision for corporate income taxes on the balance sheet and income statement of Excelerate that will be taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal and state income tax purposes.
The unaudited pro forma condensed consolidated financial information was prepared in accordance with Article 11 of Regulation S-X as amended by the final rule, Release No. 33-10786 “Amendments to Financial Disclosures about Acquired and Disposed Businesses,” using the assumptions set forth in the notes to the unaudited pro forma condensed consolidated financial information. The unaudited pro forma condensed consolidated financial information has been adjusted to include Transaction Accounting Adjustments, which reflect the application of the accounting required by generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”), linking the effects of the Transactions to EELP’s historical consolidated financial statements.
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Except as otherwise indicated, the unaudited pro forma condensed consolidated financial information presented assumes no exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase additional shares of Class A common stock in the offering.
The pro forma adjustments in the Vessel Acquisition Adjustments column give effect to the purchase of the Foundation Vessels from the George Kaiser Family Foundation, referred to as the “Foundation.” This includes adjustments to balances related to these vessels which EELP, as a lessee, has historically accounted for as finance leases. This column within the pro forma condensed consolidated statements of income also gives effect of owning these vessels instead of leasing them as if the purchase of Foundation Vessels occurred on January 1, 2021.
EELP is considered our predecessor for accounting purposes, and its consolidated financial statements will be our historical financial statements following this offering.
We anticipate that certain non-recurring charges will be incurred in connection with the Reorganization. Any such charge could affect the future results of Excelerate in the period in which such charges are incurred; however, these costs are not expected to be incurred in any period beyond 12 months from the effective date of the Transactions, which is expected to close the same day as the effective date of this offering. Accordingly, the pro forma condensed consolidated statements of income for the year ended December 31, 2021 reflects the effects of these non-recurring charges.
We have not made any pro forma adjustments relating to reporting, compliance and investor relations costs that we will incur as a public company. No pro forma adjustments have been made for these additional expenses as an estimate of such expenses is not determinable.
The unaudited pro forma condensed consolidated financial information is included for informational purposes only and is not necessarily indicative of the operating results that would have occurred if the Transactions had been completed as of the dates set forth above, nor is it indicative of the future consolidated results of operations or financial position of Excelerate. Further, pro forma adjustments represent management’s best estimates based on information available as of the date of this prospectus and are subject to change as additional information becomes available. The unaudited pro forma condensed consolidated financial information should not be relied upon as being indicative of our results of operations or financial condition had the Transactions, including this offering, occurred on the dates assumed. The unaudited pro forma condensed consolidated financial information also does not project our results of operations or financial position for any future period or date.
The unaudited pro forma condensed consolidated statement of income and balance sheet should be read in conjunction with the “Risk Factors,” “Organizational Structure,” “Use of Proceeds,” “Capitalization,” “Prospectus Summary—Summary Historical Consolidated Financial Information,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” “Certain Relationships and Related Person Transactions” and our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus.
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Excelerate Energy, Inc.
Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet
As of December 31, 2021
 
 
Transaction Adjustments
 
 
EELP
Historical
Consolidated
Vessel
Acquisition
Adjustments
Reorganization
Adjustments
Offering
Adjustments
Excelerate
Pro Forma
Condensed
Consolidated
 
(in thousands)
Assets
 
 
 
 
 
Current assets
 
 
 
 
 
Cash and cash equivalents
$72,786
$(50,000)​(2)
   
$334,725(9)
$357,511
Current portion of restricted cash
2,495
 
 
 
2,495
Accounts receivable, net
260,535
 
 
 
260,535
Accounts receivable, net – related-party
11,140
 
 
 
11,140
Inventories
105,020
 
 
 
105,020
Current portion of net investments in sales-type leases
12,225
 
 
 
12,225
Other current assets
26,194
(1,282)(1)
(3,725)(11)
21,187
Total current assets
490,395
(51,282)
331,000
770,113
Restricted cash
15,683
 
 
 
15,683
Property and equipment, net
1,433,169
20,813(2)
 
 
1,453,982
Operating lease right-of-use assets
106,225
 
 
 
106,225
Net investments in sales-type leases
412,908
 
 
 
412,908
Investment in equity method investee
22,051
 
 
 
22,051
Deferred tax assets
1,122(3)
32,140(7)(10)
 
33,262
Other assets
20,305
(7,537)(1)
12,768
Total assets
$2,500,736
$(36,884)
$32,140
$331,000
$2,826,992
Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity
 
 
 
 
 
Current liabilities
 
 
 
 
 
Accounts payable
$303,651
$
$
$
$303,651
Accounts payable to related party
7,937
 
 
 
7,937
Accrued liabilities and other liabilities
105,034
 
 
 
105,034
Deferred revenue
9,653
(1,282)(1)
 
 
8,371
Current portion of long-term debt
19,046
 
 
 
19,046
Current portion of long-term debt – related party
7,096
 
 
 
7,096
Current portion of operating lease liabilities
30,215
 
 
 
30,215
Current portion of finance lease liabilities
21,903
 
 
 
21,903
Current portion of finance lease liabilities – related party
15,627
(15,627)(4)
Total current liabilities
520,162
(16,909)
503,253
Derivative liabilities
2,999
 
 
 
2,999
Long-term debt, net
214,369
 
 
 
214,369
Long-term debt, net – related party
191,217
 
 
 
191,217
Operating lease liabilities
77,936
 
 
 
77,936
Finance lease liabilities
229,755
 
 
 
229,755
Finance lease liabilities – related party
210,992
(210,992)(4)
 
 
TRA liability
21,482(3)
51,288(7)(10)
 
72,770
Asset retirement obligations
34,929
 
 
 
34,929
Other long-term liabilities
14,451
14,451
Total liabilities
1,496,810
(206,419)
51,288
1,341,679
Partners’ / stockholders’ equity
 
 
 
 
 
Class A common stock, $0.001 par value
8(5)
 
16(9)
24
Class B common stock, $0.001 par value
 
81(7)(8)