Cheniere Energy announces $1.25 Billion bond refinancing for Corpus Christi liquefaction project

Cheniere Energy, Inc. has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Cheniere Corpus Christi Holdings, LLC (CCH), has upsized and priced its previously announced offering of Senior Secured Notes due 2024 to finance the Corpus Christi liquefaction project. 

The principal amount of the offering has been increased from the initially announced US$1.0 billion to US$1.25 billion. The CCH 2024 Notes will bear interest at a rate of 7.00% per annum and will mature on June 30, 2024. The CCH 2024 Notes are priced at par and the closing of the offering is expected to occur on May 18, 2016.

CCH intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to prepay a portion of the principal amounts currently outstanding under CCH's credit facility and to pay fees and expenses incurred in connection with this offering and the prepayment. The CCH 2024 Notes will be secured by a first priority security interest in substantially all of the assets of CCH and its subsidiaries and by a pledge of all of the equity interests in CCH and will rank pari passu in right of payment with all existing and future senior secured indebtedness of CCH, including borrowings under the CCH Credit Facility.

In May 2015 we published that The US Energy Department issued a final authorization for the Corpus Christi Liquefaction (CCL) project.

Corpus Christi Liquefaction, LLC is developing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal at one of Cheniere's existing sites that was previously permitted for a regasification terminal. The proposed liquefaction project is being designed for three trains capable of producing in aggregate up to 13.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa).

The Corpus Christi site is located on the La Quinta Channel on the northeast side of Corpus Christi Bay in San Patricio County, Texas, on over 1,000 acres owned or controlled by Cheniere and is approximately 15 nautical miles from the coast.