(BARBERTON, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:BW) (B&W) announced today it
has reached an agreement with joint venture developers Industrial
Commercial Properties LLC (ICP) and Industrial Realty Group, LLC (IRG)
to lease new office space in the renovated East End development in
Akron, Ohio, and that its Barberton and Copley operations will relocate
to this new space in 2019. The lease agreement is for an initial term of
15 years. Additionally, B&W announced it is relocating its corporate
headquarters to Ohio from Charlotte, N.C.
B&W anticipates its employees will move into the new space when
renovations are complete in the third quarter of 2019, while the
relocation of its corporate headquarters to Barberton is effective
immediately. The company also intends to continue operating a parts
warehouse at its Copley facility. B&W will have a continued presence in
Charlotte and employees there will continue to serve in various sales,
service and corporate administrative functions.
“We’ve maintained offices to support our core power business in
northeast Ohio for more than 110 years,” said B&W President and Chief
Executive Officer Leslie Kass. “Bringing our headquarters here
represents our continued commitment to the region.”
B&W’s Barberton and Copley offices employ approximately 700 people,
including engineers, support staff, corporate functions and other highly
skilled workers who are primarily focused on designing, engineering and
constructing combustion and emissions control equipment and
technologies, as well as providing parts and services to electric
utilities and industrial customers in North America and around the world.
“Between our offices in Summit County and in Lancaster, B&W employs more
workers in Ohio than in any other location around the world,” Kass
explained. “As we work to serve a transforming global power industry,
employees in our Ohio-based headquarters will continue to play a central
role in the success of the company.”
“The new Akron office will help us reduce our operating costs while also
providing a dynamic, vibrant and exciting location for our employees to
work and collaborate,” she said. “It will also serve as an attractive
location to help recruit new talent in the future.”
During the site evaluation process, B&W consulted with City of Barberton
officials who presented alternatives for the company’s Barberton campus,
which were carefully considered. B&W has agreed to sell its Barberton
campus to the East End development team following the move. The
developer and B&W have engaged City of Barberton officials to discuss
opportunities for redevelopment of the approximately 27-acre site and
office buildings.
“We have met with local officials in Barberton, who are dedicated to
partnering with us to find the right companies to create jobs and expand
the tax base in Barberton,” said Stu Lichter, president of IRG and
development partner at The East End. “Incentives will be a strong
motivator for these companies.”
“We are incredibly excited about B&W joining the momentum at The East
End and the opportunities redeveloping its former campus will provide
the market.” said Chris Semarjian, owner of ICP and development partner
at The East End. “Our team has already begun marketing the site to a
variety of office and industrial tenants, which are community-minded and
would provide excellent job opportunities.”
Team NEO, JobsOhio, Summit County, the City of Akron and Greater Akron
Chamber of Commerce also provided B&W with incentives, which influenced
B&W’s decision to relocate its headquarters to Ohio.
“We’re very appreciative of the efforts of officials from Summit County,
City of Akron, the Greater Akron Chamber of Commerce, Team NEO and
JobsOhio and thank them for their hard work on this deal,” Kass said.
“One of our key goals when examining our options for our Northeast Ohio
office was to reduce the overall cost of our operations. The incentives
we received helped make this move possible for us.”
About B&W
Babcock & Wilcox is a global leader in energy and environmental
technologies and services for the power and industrial markets, and has
been transforming our world for 151 years. Follow us on Twitter
@BabcockWilcox
and learn more at
www.babcock.com
.
Forward-Looking Statements
B&W cautions that this release contains forward-looking statements,
including, without limitation, statements relating to our strategic
objectives; our business execution model; management’s expectations
regarding the industries in which we operate; our guidance and
forecasts; our projected operating margin improvements, savings and
restructuring costs; covenant compliance; and project execution. These
forward-looking statements are based on management’s current
expectations and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including,
among other things, our ability to continue as a going concern; our
ability to obtain and maintain sufficient financing to provide liquidity
to meet our business objectives, surety bonds, letters of credit and
similar financing; our ability to satisfy the liquidity and other
requirements under U.S. revolving credit facility as recently amended,
including our ability to successfully enter into and borrow under a new
term loan and receive concessions from customers on our Renewable energy
loss contracts; the highly competitive nature of our businesses; general
economic and business conditions, including changes in interest rates
and currency exchange rates; general developments in the industries in
which we are involved; cancellations of and adjustments to backlog and
the resulting impact from using backlog as an indicator of future
earnings; our ability to perform contracts on time and on budget, in
accordance with the schedules and terms established by the applicable
contracts with customers; failure by third-party subcontractors, joint
venture partners or suppliers to perform their obligations on time and
as specified; our ability to realize anticipated savings and operational
benefits from our restructuring plans, and other cost-savings
initiatives; our ability to successfully integrate and realize the
expected synergies from acquisitions; our ability to successfully
address productivity and schedule issues in our Renewable segment,
including the ability to complete our Renewable energy projects within
the expected time frame and the estimated costs; willingness of
customers to waive liquidated damages or agree to bonus opportunities;
our ability to successfully partner with third parties to win and
execute renewable projects; changes in our effective tax rate and tax
positions; our ability to maintain operational support for our
information systems against service outages and data corruption, as well
as protection against cyber-based network security breaches and theft of
data; our ability to protect our intellectual property and renew
licenses to use intellectual property of third parties; our use of the
percentage-of-completion method of accounting; the risks associated with
integrating businesses we acquire; our ability to successfully manage
research and development projects and costs, including our efforts to
successfully develop and commercialize new technologies and products;
the operating risks normally incident to our lines of business,
including professional liability, product liability, warranty and other
claims against us; changes in, or our failure or inability to comply
with, laws and government regulations; difficulties we may encounter in
obtaining regulatory or other necessary permits or approvals; changes
in, and liabilities relating to, existing or future environmental
regulatory matters; our limited ability to influence and direct the
operations of our joint ventures; potential violations of the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act; our ability to successfully compete with current
and future competitors; the loss of key personnel and the continued
availability of qualified personnel; our ability to negotiate and
maintain good relationships with labor unions; changes in pension and
medical expenses associated with our retirement benefit programs;
social, political, competitive and economic situations in foreign
countries where we do business or seek new business; the possibilities
of war, other armed conflicts or terrorist attacks; the willingness of
customers and suppliers to continue to do business with us on reasonable
terms and conditions; and our ability to successfully consummate the
sale of our MEGTEC, Universal, as well as the sale of any other assets,
within the expected timeframes or at all.
If one or more of these
risks or other risks materialize, actual results may vary materially
from those expressed. For a more complete discussion of these and other
risk factors, see B&W’s filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and
subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. B&W cautions not to place
undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as
of the date of this release, and undertakes no obligation to update or
revise any forward-looking statement, except to the extent required by
applicable law.
View source version on businesswire.com:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180924005920/en/
Investor Contact:
Babcock & Wilcox
Megan Wilson,
704-625-4944
Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor
Relations
investors@babcock.com
or
Media
Contact:
Babcock & Wilcox
Ryan Cornell, 330-860-1345
Public
Relations
rscornell@babcock.com
Source: Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc.