Japanese trading house Mitsubishi Corp said on Friday it would take over the U.S. shale production and pipelines assets of Aethon Energy Management for $7.53 billion including debt.
The deal – the biggest acquisition to date by Mitsubishi – would give the company a substantial natural gas operation adjacent to the U.S. Gulf coast and the energy export facilities being developed along it. The transaction includes $5.2 billion to acquire Aethon’s equity interests and $2.33 billion of net interest-bearing debt, the company said in a statement. The move comes as the latest example of Japan investing in the U.S. energy sector after Tokyo positioned gas as a key transition fuel even beyond 2050 and as Japan prepares for surging power demand from data centres driven by the artificial intelligence boom.
Mitsubishi is a major player in the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector, engaging across the full value chain – from upstream production to trading, marketing, and logistics.
It holds equity in multiple LNG projects worldwide, including stakes in Malaysia, Oman, Australia, Russia, the U.S., and Canada, with total equity LNG production of about 15 million metric tons per year currently.
The upstream assets of Aethon, which primarily focus on the Haynesville shale formation in Louisiana and East Texas, constitute one of the largest privately held U.S. gas producers. In October, JERA, Japan’s top power generator, said it would buy U.S. natural gas production assets for $1.5 billion, while Japan Petroleum Exploration said in December it would acquire Verdad Resources Intermediate Holdings (VRIH), which owns U.S. tight oil and gas assets, for $1.3 billion in its largest-ever deal.
Shares in Mitsubishi extended their decline following the news, trading down 2%, against the broader benchmark Nikkei 225 index’s 0.3% fall. Reuters reported in June that Mitsubishi is in talks to acquire the assets of Aethon Energy Management.
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi, Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)