He has teamed up with local businessman William Bolster to advance the deal, which has already received approval from the airport’s shareholders and the Waterford City and County Council. While it’s believed the transaction has been signed, it will be another number of days before it is formalised.
Mr Warren has existing ties to Ireland. He owns the Castletown House and Estate in Co Kilkenny, which he bought in 2019 for more than €12m.
Although he has not been publicly confirmed as the investor in Waterford Airport, his name has been widely linked locally to the project.
The Texan tycoon is the single largest shareholder in US firm Energy Transfer and has an estimated net worth of $7.1bn (€6bn), according to Forbes.
He co-founded the company in 1996 and is executive chairman of the group. Energy Transfer operates more than 200,000km of oil and natural gas pipelines in the United States.
Listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the company has a market capitalisation of $56bn.
He has donated tens of millions of dollars in campaign funds to the Republican party in the United States. That included a $12.5m donation last year to Maga Inc, a campaign fund that supports Mr Trump. Maga Inc now has a $300m war chest as the US prepares for crunch midterm elections next November.
The decision not to publicly name Mr Warren as the investor in Waterford Airport has caused some controversy.
However, in October the local council approved the investment plan. It said it would deliver a major redevelopment without the need for government funding. The works will include a runway extension and other infrastructure upgrades that will enable the airport to pitch for the return of commercial aircraft operations to the facility.
Works are expected to commence soon and take 12 months to complete. The lengthening and widening of its runway will allow Waterford Airport to handle larger commercial jet aircraft.
It is hoped that scheduled passenger services will recommence by the end of 2027. The business plan for the airport envisages that it will be handling up to 400,000 passengers a year within five years.
In early December, the existing shareholders in the airport agreed to have their stakes dissolved. It will also see the dissolution of the existing airport company.
A charge the government had over the existing airport company, through the Minister for Transport, has also been satisfied. That charge was created in 2015 and covered all assets at the airport that were in receipt of funding supports from the State under the government’s 2015 to 2019 regional airports funding scheme.
History was made at Waterford Airport in 1985 when the first Ryanair flight took off, headed for London Gatwick. But Waterford hasn’t had scheduled air services since 2016.