(Reuters) -Venture Global LNG has raised $1.75 billion after pricing its U.S. initial public offering within range, the second-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas in the United States said on Thursday.
The company priced its offering of 70 million shares at $25 each, a day after cutting the price range to between $23 and $27 apiece and increasing the shares on offer.
The company had initially set a target of selling 50 million shares for $40 to $46 each to raise as much as $2.3 billion for a valuation of $110 billion.
Venture Global was forced to nearly halve the valuation it was seeking after investors balked at its estimated long-term profit for liquefying gas for export, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
The flotation, the first big IPO under the second term of President Donald Trump, is also a bet on the incoming administration’s agenda to boost energy production.
Trump had promised to maximize U.S. oil and natural gas production in part by clearing away what he deems as unnecessary regulation and bureaucracy.
He signed an executive order on his first day to end a moratorium on new LNG export permits, which clears an obstacle to Venture Global’s expansion plan. He has also said he wants to see European companies buy more U.S. LNG.
Venture Global’s IPO extends a strong start to the year, buoyed by interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve and expectations of deregulation and corporate tax reductions under the Trump administration.
Oilfield services provider Flowco’s shares jumped in their market debut last week, while Smithfield Foods is set to go public next week with a valuation aim of $10.7 billion.
Venture Global has five LNG projects in various stages of development near the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana and expects to have total peak production of 143.8 million tonnes a year.
Developers such as Venture Global have built terminals along the U.S. Gulf Coast to liquefy and ship the gas, turning the United States into the world’s top LNG exporter.
Despite the price revision, Venture Global’s potential market value would likely surpass rival Cheniere Energy, currently the largest U.S. LNG exporter with a market value of around $52.36 billion.
Venture Global, founded in 2013, is expected to start trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday under the ticker symbol “VG.”
The IPO is being underwritten by a syndicate of Wall Street banks led by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and BofA Securities.
Meanwhile, Venture Global is also facing contract arbitration cases brought by some of the world’s top oil and gas producers, including BP, Shell and Repsol, for cargoes exported from the company’s first project, the Calcasieu Pass plant.
The cases could cost Venture Global billions of dollars if it loses, its IPO document indicated.
(Reporting by Pritam Biswas and Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
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