McKinley wanted in on Alaska LNG export project
May 09, 2025 | 7:09 pm ET
Description
Alaska’s natural gas pipeline would largely follow the route of the existing trans-Alaska oil pipeline, pictured here, from the North Slope. Near Fairbanks, the gas line would split off toward Anchorage, while the oil pipeline continues to the Prince William Sound community of Valdez. (Photo by David Houseknecht/United States Geological Survey)
Anchorage financial firm McKinley Alaska Private Investment made an effort to take over the Alaska liquefied natural gas export project — a bid that the state agency leading the development ultimately “tossed aside,” said McKinley’s chief executive, Rob Gillam, in favor of another company.
Gillam wrote to the board members of the state-owned Alaska Gasline Development Corp., or AGDC, in early March. His message said he was seeking an opportunity “to share my firm’s fully funded offer” to acquire a majority of the AGDC subsidiary holding the $44 billion LNG project’s assets, according to a copy of his message obtained by Northern Journal.
In his message, Gillam said that his company spent the past year conducting research on a “potential bid” for the project before being instructed by AGDC in December to “stand down and do no further work on our nearly finished proposal.”
Up until that point, Gillam said, “we were not told of any impending deadline or given any heads-up that the significant time and financial resources my firm was spending in due diligence would be tossed aside and our proposal not even considered by AGDC.”
AGDC subsequently announced that it had reached an agreement with another company, Glenfarne, to take over the project’s development.
A spokesperson for McKinley, Stacia Gillam, declined to comment. A spokesman for AGDC said that the agency had responded to Rob Gillam but declined to share a copy of its message.
“AGDC closely examined all documented and written proposals that we received,” said the AGDC spokesman, Tim Fitzpatrick. “Once Glenfarne stepped forward, interest in the project greatly accelerated. A project of Alaska LNG’s size will have ample opportunity for investors to get involved.”
McKinley is one of Alaska’s few homegrown finance firms. It manages a chunk of the Alaska Permanent Fund’s portfolio, though one of its biggest investments as part of that initiative, in processing company Peter Pan Seafood, ended catastrophically, with plants sold and shuttered.
Nathaniel Herz welcomes tips at [email protected] or (907) 793-0312. This article was originally published in Northern Journal, a newsletter from Herz. Subscribe at this link.
Juneau