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Babcock & Wilcox to Relocate Headquarters to Ohio, Move to New Offices in Akron
Posted September 24, 2018
(BARBERTON, Ohio – September 24, 2018) – 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.
“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.