Blackstone-led group takes 49.9% of Mitsubishi’s Kitimat holding company
Four Canadian pension managers agreed on Monday to join a Blackstone-led group investing US$3.1bn for a 49.9 percent non-controlling interest in the Mitsubishi Corporation subsidiary that holds the company’s 15 percent stake in LNG Canada, the export terminal at Kitimat, British Columbia.
Blackstone’s announcement named the Canadian participants as Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), through wholly owned subsidiaries of CPPIB Credit Investments Inc., Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO), and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments).
The capital comes from funds managed by Blackstone Credit & Insurance.
Mitsubishi will remain the controlling partner and retain its full share of LNG offtake, Blackstone said.
Reuters reported that Mitsubishi valued its stake at about US$1.6bn, with the remaining investment directed to the Phase 2 expansion.
The holding company currently offtakes 2.1 million tonnes of LNG a year from the project, and volumes are expected to double to 4.2 million tonnes once the expansion is complete, according to Reuters.
A Mitsubishi spokesperson told the outlet the deal is expected to close in November 2026.
Geoff Souter, managing director and head of real assets credit at CPP Investments, said in the Blackstone release that LNG Canada is “a high-quality, globally strategic asset with strong long-term fundamentals and attractive return potential for the CPP Fund.”
Souter said the fund sees “a compelling opportunity to invest at scale here in Canada alongside Mitsubishi Corporation, Blackstone and our Canadian peers.”
Rick Campbell, senior managing director at Blackstone Credit & Insurance, said in the same announcement of the US$3.1bn investment that his firm joins Mitsubishi Corporation as a financial partner on the project.
Campbell said Mitsubishi brings more than 50 years of experience across the LNG value chain.
New York-based Blackstone manages US$140bn through its infrastructure and asset-based credit platform, which has more than 100 investment professionals, the company said.
LNG Canada announced in September 2026 that it would proceed with Phase 2 at Kitimat, CBC News reported, and the project has been referred to the federal major projects office, which aims to speed up infrastructure deemed in Canada’s national interest.
Mitsubishi set out its own position in a final investment decision on the expansion the same month. The expansion will double capacity to 28 million tonnes a year.
Production at the terminal began in June 2025, according to Reuters.
Shell owns 40 percent of the joint venture, per Bloomberg, with PetroChina, Malaysia’s Petronas, Mitsubishi Corporation, and South Korea’s KOGAS holding the remainder, CBC News reported.
Richard Brooks, climate finance director at environmental group Stand.earth, told CBC News that Canadians should be “extremely alarmed” to see pension funds investing in LNG on behalf of millions of workers and retirees.
In a news release carried by the outlet, Brooks said Canadians should have a say in where and with whom their retirement funds are invested, and that geopolitical instability driving up interest in Canadian LNG does not make it a risk-free investment over the long term.
Adam Scott, director of Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health, said the pension funds have broken trust with their members.
“We’re now using our taxes and our retirement savings against us to harm our climate,” he said in a news release, per CBC News. “It’s deeply irresponsible and indefensible.”
