UPDATE: Clarkson Capital Markets Upgrades Golar LNG Partners to Outpeform on Acquisition

Clarkson Capital Markets raised its rating on Golar LNG Partners GMLP from Market-perform to Outperform. Clarkson Capital Markets commented, "Last week, GMLP announced that it entered into an agreement to acquire the LNG carrier Golar Grand (2006 built, 145,000cbm) from GP unitholder GLNG (Outperform; $46 PT) for a price of $265M. … Expect acquisition to drive distribution growth of ~10%, increasing estimates. Holding distribution coverage steady at ~1.4x, we estimate distribution growth of ~10% over the next 12 months, to $2.10/unit vs $1.90/unit currently. Due to the accretive acquisition, our FY2013 earnings per unit (EPU) estimate also increases to $2.45 from $2.40. The Street expects FY2013 EPU of $2.27 however we do not believe the Grand has yet been accounted for in all numbers." Golar LNG Partners closed at $30.28 on Monday.