Babcock & Wilcox Agrees To Buy SPIG S.p.A For €155 million

Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. BW signed a definitive agreement to buy SPIG S.p.A. ("SPIG"), an Italy-based global provider of custom-engineered cooling systems and services, for an enterprise value of €155 million, subject to some adjustments.

Babcock & Wilcox said SPIG would operate as a subsidiary under the trade name of Babcock & Wilcox SPIG. Its management team would continue to lead the company, which will maintain its headquarters in Arona. The company stated that the transaction would be funded from its existing foreign cash. The company expects the acquisition to be completed during the third quarter of 2016.

The company's chairman and COO, James Ferland, commented, "We're excited to welcome SPIG's employees and customers to Babcock & Wilcox. SPIG brings a more than 80 year heritage of excellence in engineering and project execution to the B&W family of businesses, and we believe B&W SPIG will be an integral part of B&W's continued growth worldwide."

He continued to say that "We expect a smooth transition and integration process with no business disruption. SPIG's customers will continue to receive the same outstanding level of service to which they're accustomed and will benefit from B&W's scale and portfolio of products and services."

Babcock said the acquisition of SPIG was in line with Bits goal to continue to grow and diversify its technology-based offerings with fresh products, as well as services, which were are complementary to its core businesses in the power and industrial markets.

With revenues of €168 million in 2015, SPIG employed about 250 people in Italy, the United States, India, Turkey, China, Russia, Brazil, Germany and South Korea. The company offers a comprehensive dry and wet cooling solutions and aftermarket services to the power generation industry including natural gas-fired and renewable energy power plants, as well as downstream oil and gas, petrochemical and other industrial end markets.

Ferland concluded by saying, "The ability to offer high quality, custom-engineered cooling systems as part of our project scope enhances the value we can bring to our customers. SPIG's products are applicable to a wide variety of facilities and will provide significant cross-selling opportunities for us in both our power and industrial business segments. Additionally, B&W's strong North American footprint will help facilitate SPIG's continued expansion into this geographic market."