Mitsubishi Corporation has announced plans to sell a 49.9% stake in its LNG Canada subsidiary to a group led by Blackstone Credit & Insurance. The deal, valued at approximately $1.6 billion, will allow Mitsubishi to free up capital while retaining a controlling 50.1% stake in the holding company. The transaction is part of Mitsubishi's strategy to improve capital efficiency across its global energy portfolio.
Blackstone's investor group, which includes Canadian institutional investors CPP Investments, OMERS, IMCO, and PSP Investments, has committed $3.1 billion to acquire the minority interest. The discrepancy between the transaction values disclosed by Mitsubishi and Blackstone was not explained. The investment comes just over a month after LNG Canada's partners approved the project's second phase, which will double its export capacity from 14 million tonnes to 28 million tonnes annually.
The expansion, approved in September 2026, will add two liquefaction trains to the existing facility in Kitimat, British Columbia. Commercial operations from the additional capacity are expected to begin in the early 2030s. Mitsubishi currently receives approximately 2.1 million tonnes of LNG annually from LNG Canada, with volumes expected to double to 4.2 million tonnes following the expansion. The company markets its LNG primarily to Japanese and other Asian customers through its Singapore-based subsidiary Diamond Global Energy.
LNG Canada began exporting cargoes in June 2025, establishing Canada's first major LNG export route to international markets. The Shell-led project is owned by Shell (40%), Petronas (25%), PetroChina (15%), Mitsubishi (15%), and Korea Gas Corporation (5%). The expansion will also require additional natural gas transportation capacity, with TC Energy advancing upgrades to the Coastal GasLink pipeline to support increased deliveries of Western Canadian gas to the export terminal.