Latham & Watkins Advises NextDecade on Capital Raises That Enable Its Positive Final Investment Decision of Train 5 at Rio Grande LNG
NextDecade Corporation (NASDAQ: NEXT) has announced that it has made a positive final investment decision (FID) on Train 5 of its Rio Grande LNG multi-train natural gas liquefaction and LNG export facility in Brownsville Texas. The announcement follows closely the recently announced FID of Train 4 in September 2025.
NextDecade successfully closed a series of committed financings to fund the expected US$6.7 billion of project costs for Train 5 and related infrastructure, including:
- US$0.6 billion “super finco” back-leverage facility from a private credit fund to fund NextDecade’s initial equity contribution;
- US$0.729 billion “finco” delayed draw back-leverage commercial bank facility to fund NextDecade’s subsequent equity contributions;
- US$2.571 billion joint venture, including aggregate US$1.285 billion of equity commitments from Global Infrastructure Partners (a part of BlackRock), GIC, Mubadala Investment Company, and US$1.285 billion of equity commitments from NextDecade;
- US$ 3.589 billion senior secured commercial bank term loan facility; and
- US$0.5 billion private placement of senior secured notes.
Latham & Watkins LLP advised NextDecade and its subsidiaries and affiliates with respect to the joint venture arrangements, the super finco financing, the finco financing, the senior secured term loan facility, the private placement and various project documents to enable FID. These investments and the recent Train 4 investments come off the back of prior FID of the first three trains in 2023 and further accelerate NextDecade’s ground-breaking development.
The Latham team was led by partners Jason Webber, Hamad Al-Hoshan, and Christopher Peponis. Advice was also provided on the joint venture arrangements by Webber, with associates Alice Parker, Robert Cunningham, Melanie von Staa Toledo, and Braydon Jones, with assistance from Garrett Shaw; on the super finco financing by Webber, Al-Hoshan, and partner Pamela Kellet, with associates Andres Chester and Mariana de Medeiros Ferez, with assistance from Ben Krapels; on the finco and senior secured facilities by Webber and Al-Hoshan, with associates Hyunjong (Josh) Ryu, Yoon Lee, Conrad Proulx, and Victoria Gross; on private placement matters by Webber, Al-Hoshan, and partner David Miller, with associates Zainab Hashmi, Yoon Lee, Harrison Little, and Hyunjong (Josh) Ryu; on the project documents by Webber, Al-Hoshan, and Peponis, with associates Silvia Martin, Carlos Diaz, and Siyao Liu; on tax matters by partner Jim Cole, with associate Jacob Nagelberg; and on interest rate derivatives, including deal contingent hedges by partners Yvette Valdez and Carlos Alvarez, with associates Mia Stefanou and Naffie Lamin.