Allen & Overy LLP is advising Total on its acquisition from Engie of its portfolio of upstream liquefied natural gas (LNG) assets for an overall enterprise value of USD1.5 billion. Additional payments of up to USD550 million could be payable by Total in case of an improvement in the oil markets in the coming years.

Total will become the second largest global LNG player as a result of the transaction.

This portfolio includes participating interests in liquefaction plants, notably the interest in the Cameron LNG project in the US, long term LNG sales and purchase agreements, an LNG tanker fleet as well as access to regasification capacities in Europe.

The proposed transaction is subject to the applicable legally required consultation and notification processes with employee representatives as well as approvals by the relevant regulatory authorities and partners on certain contracts. It is expected to close by mid-2018 and will have an effective date of 1 January 2018.

The Allen & Overy team is led by Corporate Energy partners Alexandre Ancel in Paris and John Geraghty in London, with support from senior associates Frédérique Dugué and Oliver Bacon and associates Flora Leon-Servière and Tom Betts. Partner Claire Toumieux is managing the employment issues with support from associates Mathilde Lapostolle and Anaïta Massoumi. Partners Florence Ninane and Mark Friend are leading on the antitrust side with support from senior associate Jean-François Willems.

Allen & Overy’s New York, Tokyo and Singapore offices are providing specialist advice.

Engie is advised by Clifford Chance with a team led from Paris by Corporate partner Mathieu Remy with support from counsel Olivier Jouffroy and Sue Palmer and associates Marine Larrue-Duin and Adeline Nayagom; London corporate partners David Lewis and Graham Phillips with support from associates Alex Franks, Angela Becker and Claire Zhu; US partners David Evans and George Kleinfeld; Antitrust partner Alex Nourry with support from Jennifer Storey; Employment partner François Farmine with support from Alban Tourneux and Wassilla Kameche; Tax partner Alexandre Lagarrigue with support from Jitka Susankova; Shipping partner Gervais Green; Commercial contracts partner Dessislava Savova with support from counsel Alexander Kennedy and James Shepherd in Environment.