Sempra agrees to sell infrastructure arm stake, approves Port Arthur LNG expansion

Sempra announced on September 23 that it had agreed to sell a 45% equity stake in its Sempra Infrastructure Partners unit to affiliates of KKR and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) for around $10bn. At the same time Sempra Infrastructure Partners, which develops and operates Sempra’s LNG portfolio, announced a final investment decision (FID) on Phase 2 of the Port Arthur LNG project in Texas.

Port Arthur Phase 2 comprises two additional liquefaction trains at the Port Arthur site, with a combined capacity of around 13mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG. This is in addition to the two trains that are currently under construction as part of Port Arthur LNG Phase 1, with in-service dates targeted for 2027 and 2028. The first phase also has a capacity of 13mn tpy of LNG, so the plant will have a total liquefaction capacity of 26mn tpy when both phases are online. The third and fourth trains, which will be built under Phase 2, are anticipated to enter commercial operation in 2030 and 2031 respectively.

Sempra said in its announcement this week that incremental capital expenditures for Phase 2 were estimated at $12bn, plus a $2bn payment for shared common facilities.

The FID comes after Sempra signed a series of offtake agreements for LNG produced by Phase 2 over recent months. Bechtel, which is the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for Phase 1, will also be building Phase 2 and is expected to benefit from “leveraging efficiencies and learnings” across both phases, according to the announcement.

Sempra said that funding for Phase 2 was supported by an equity investment led by Blackstone Credit & Insurance, alongside an investor consortium including KKR, Apollo-managed funds and private credit at Goldman Sachs Alternatives. These investors have acquired a 49.9% minority equity interest in the project for $7bn, the announcement said, while Sempra has retained a 50.1% majority stake.

The transaction to sell the 45% in Sempra Infrastructure Partners to KKR and CPPIB, implies an equity value of $22.2bn and an enterprise value of $31.7bn for the unit, according to the announcement. KKR already owns a stake in Sempra Infrastructure Partners and after the deal closes, a KKR-led consortium will become the majority owner of the unit, holding a 65% interest. Sempra will retain a 25% stake in the unit, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) will also hold on to its existing 10% stake.

The CPPIB said in its own announcement that it had agreed to acquire around 13% in Sempra Infrastructure Partners for around $3bn.

The transaction is anticipated to close in the second or third quarter of 2026.