Westinghouse deal garners awards for three consultancies
AlixPartners, Alvarez & Marsal, and Berkeley Research Group have won an International M&A Award for their work on the Westinghouse Electric Company restructuring and acquisition.
In March 2017, Westinghouse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after encountering huge financial challenges from the construction of four AP1000 reactors at two sites – Vogtle in Georgia and VC Summer in South Carolina.
The project, which began in 2009, was plagued by delays and cost overruns. In 2015, Westinghouse parent company Toshiba bought the nuclear construction business of project partner CB&I, making Westinghouse the sole contractor. A year later, Toshiba announced that it had booked huge losses as a result of the CB&I deal, having found that the cost to complete the US AP1000 projects would be much higher than original estimates.
The Chapter 11 filing allowed Westinghouse, a leading provider of infrastructure services to the nuclear power industry, to enter a phase of strategic restructuring. The filing affected only its US operations.
A year later, in March 2018, Westinghouse received approval from US courts for a plan of reorganization, which included its sale to private equity company Brookfield Business Partners. The acquisition price was $4.6 billion, including $1 billion in equity and $3 billion in long-term debt financing.
Westinghouse emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2018, following the completion of the acquisition deal by Brookfield.
"The close of this transaction marks an exciting milestone for Westinghouse as we have successfully emerged from Chapter 11, and continue to navigate a significant transformation that positions us for long-term sustainable success," Westinghouse president and CEO José Emeterio Gutiérrez said at the time. "With the support of Brookfield, Westinghouse will continue to build on its legacy of leading the nuclear industry. Our focus is on strengthening the business, capitalizing on our global footprint and excelling in client service and innovation."
The advisors in the restructuring and acquisition of Westinghouse have now won the award for Restructuring Deal of the Year from The M&A Advisor. Consultancies AlixPartners (which served as chief transformation officer and restructuring advisor to Westinghouse), Alvarez & Marsal, and Berkeley Research Group were among the advisors honored for their role in the successful process.
The other advisors on the mammoth restructuring and acquisition were Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP; Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP; Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP; Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP; Proskauer; Weil Gotshal; Houlihan Lokey; PJT Partners; Lazard Freres & Co. LLC; Beilinson Advisory Group; York Capital; Togut, Segal & Segal; and Transier Advisors.
The winners of the 11th Annual International M&A Awards will be honored at a black-tie gala on June 5 at the New York Athletic Club.
Other notable consultancies that won awards this year were FTI Consulting (Chapter 11 Restructuring of Claire's Stores, Inc.; Acquisition of Express Scripts by Cigna), KPMG (Sale of Medpex Online Activities to Swiss Zur Rose Group; Acquisition of Chalk & Wire Learning Assessment Inc. by Leeds Equity Partners), Deloitte (Acquisition of Yucatan Foods, LP by Landec Corporation; Acquisition of Fortune by Fortune Media Group Holdings Limited; Sale of Kmart Tyre and Auto Service to Continental AG), EY (Product/Service of the Year for Ernst & Young People Advisory Services), and Drake Star Partners (Acquisition of FreshPlanet by Vivendi).
Berkeley Research Group also won an award for its work on the sale of Vitamin World Inc. to Feihe International, alongside FTI Consulting.
PwC, Bain & Company, and KPMG won an award for their work on the sale of Callcredit to TransUnion, while Equiteq won an award for its work on the acquisition of OEE Consulting by Gobeyond – which was the Professional Services Deal of the Year.
