STIC raises $25 mn to co-invest in US oil terminal

South Korea's STIC Alternative Co. has raised $25 million to invest in a special purpose company of the Carlyle Group, which owns 50% of an oil export terminal in Texas.

Korean institutions, including NH Investment & Securities Co., were provided with the co-investment opportunity as limited partners (LPs) of the Carlyle Global Infrastructure Opportunity Fund, its first global infrastructure fund, which raised $2.2 billion in 2019.

At the time, the Korean LPs committed $51 million to the infrastructure fund through STIC Alternative, part of STIC Investments Co.

Their latest investment in the tank terminal was first reported by the Financial News and confirmed by sources with knowledge of the matter.

They plan to bump up the investment to as much as $30 million to fund the facility expansion of the terminal.

The Korea LPs of the infrastructure fund include Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Co., NH Investment & Securities Co. Ltd., Kyowon Invest Co. Ltd. and Yesco Co. Ltd., a holding company of the LS Group. NH Investment had tapped its own capital for the commitment.

Hyundai Marine did not participate in the co-investment this year for unknown reasons.

The unspecified oil terminal has storage tanks for crude oil, refined products and non-petrochemical products such as renewable diesel, biodiesel and hydrogen fuels.

The up-to-date facility has a loading capacity of 30,000 barrels per hour and counts two leading US fuel companies -- Valero Energy and Metroplex Energy -- as its clients. It has slots dedicated to each client, which helps cut the time and costs to load and unload cargo.

Its geographic proximity to Central and South America, the major destination of US petrochemical exports, also helps save the time and costs of transportation and offers a comparative advantage over other US terminals, the report said.

Once its final-phase development is completed, its storage capacity will likely double, with its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization expected to double as well.

Ex-alternative head of the National Pension Service Yang Young-sik is leading STIC Alternative, which manages about 800 billion won ($680 million) in assets.

insight@hankyung.com 

Yeonhee Kim edited this article