Venture Global Raises $1.75 Billion Through Its IPO

In the first Initial Public Offering (IPO) after Donal Trump became US President for the second term, the Virginia-based Venture Global, the second largest exporter of the US Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) sourced from rich North American natural gas basins, said on Thursday that it has raised $1.75 billion in gross proceeds through the listing.

The pricing of Venture Global’s IPO represents a significant capital markets event and the additional 10.5 million share overallotment option could increase total proceeds to $2.01 billion if fully exercised.

The US energy group Venture Global also notched up $60 billion valuation in IPO. The IPO proceeds is earmarked for general corporate purposes, including possible costs incurred ahead of green-lighting future LNG projects, according to the company’s IPO document.

The document also revealed a sharp decline in operating profit due to lower gas prices, falling to $1.17 billion in the first nine months of 2024 compared with $4.1 billion during the same period in 2023.

The company had initially set a target of selling 50 million shares for $40 to $46 per share to raise as much as $2.3 billion for a valuation of around $110 billion. The closing of the offering is expected to occur on 27 January 2025, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

According to Reuters’ calculations, even after the revision to price guidance and the number of shares offered, the top end of the proposed $23-$27 per share price range would still raise as much as $1.9 billion and value Venture Global as highly as $65.3 billion. That would make it one of the ten largest US energy companies by market capitalisation, Reuters report said.

Venture Global’s Businesses

Venture Global’s business includes assets across the LNG supply chain including LNG production, natural gas transport, shipping and regasification. Venture Global’s first facility, Calcasieu Pass, commenced producing LNG in January 2022.

The company’s second facility, Plaquemines LNG, achieved first production of LNG in December 2024 and it is currently constructing and developing over 100 MTPA of nameplate production capacity to provide clean, affordable energy to the world. Venture Global is also developing Carbon Capture and Sequestration projects at each of its LNG facilities.

Besides these two facilities in operation, Venture Global also has three more LNG projects in various stages of development near the Gulf of Mexico, which was renamed as Gulf of America by Donald Trump, in Louisiana.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan and BofA Securities are acting as joint lead book-running managers. ING, RBC Capital Markets, Scotiabank, Mizuho, Santander, SMBC Nikko, MUFG, BBVA, Loop Capital Markets, Natixis, Deutsche Bank Securities, Wells Fargo Securities and Truist Securities are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. National Bank of Canada Financial Markets, Raymond James, Regions Securities LLC, Guggenheim Securities and Tuohy Brothers are acting as co-managers for the offering.