Excelerate to acquire New Fortress Jamaica assets for $1 billion

Excelerate to acquire New Fortress’s Jamaica assets for $1 billion

KINGSTON, March 27, 2025 – LNG infrastructure player Excelerate Energy has agreed to acquire the Jamaica business of competitor New Fortress Energy for USD 1.06 billion, the companies announced on Thursday.

The sale includes the Montego Bay onshore terminal, the Old Harbour floating terminal and the Clarendon combined heat and power plant, which New Fortress has said supplies 65% of Jamaica’s electricity.

The deal, expected to close in Q2 of this year, will enhance Excelerate’s global footprint, which includes LNG infrastructure in Bangladesh, Brazil, Finland and Pakistan.

It also represents part of New Fortress’s strategy to streamline operations after deferring shareholder dividends while negotiating with bondholders to manage near-term debt obligations.

“This transaction represents an important milestone in the execution of Excelerate’s downstream growth strategy. It will expand and diversify our platform, while positioning Excelerate as the key provider of essential LNG import infrastructure in a desirable and growing Atlantic basin natural gas market,” Excelerate president and CEO Steven Kobos said.

“These assets complement our existing operational expertise and our long-term LNG supply agreements, while offering the potential for future growth opportunities as natural gas becomes an increasingly essential part of Jamaica’s energy mix.”

Excelerate said it expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to its earnings per share, with the assets complementing its “existing operational expertise and long-term LNG supply agreements.”

The acquisition presents additional opportunities for Excelerate, including LNG bunkering and possible expansion of the Clarendon power plant. The company highlighted Jamaica’s strategic location near the US Gulf coast, where LNG export infrastructure is expanding rapidly.

“Strategically, we think the assets are a nice fit for Excelerate with some growth potential beyond the existing business,” Capital One Securities said in a note. For New Fortress, the deal was seen as a positive step for debt reduction despite the loss of key assets.

Excelerate and New Fortress both specialise in floating LNG import terminals that enable countries to import natural gas without constructing large-scale facilities, whose construction can require large-scale investments and significant time.

Photo of the Montego Bay onshore terminal courtesy of New Fortress

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