Related Links: Will Michael Baker Opt To Go Private? Michael Baker Corp. website After months of boardroom turmoil, Michael Baker Corp. said on July 29 it would take a $397-million buyout offer from an affiliate of DC Capital, a private-equity firm and shareholder that had offered to buy the Pittsburgh-based engineer late last year for $233 million.Baker says the $40.50-per-share cash offer was a 37% premium on its $29.60 closing share price on July 26.Andrej Avelini, managing director of industry financial consultant EFCG, said the offer value is "almost nine times 2013 expected EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and
Related Links: See who else is moving up, or moving on, in the AEC sector firms Kier completes 221m ($337 million) deal for May Gurney Kier and FCC team confirmed for 600m ($900 millon) Mersey Gateway project Cooper Union Won't Be Free For 2014 Freshman Class Kier Group plc, the London-based construction and services firm, has named Stephen Bowcott as chief operating officer, a newly created position in the company. The appointment comes as the firm completes its July 1 acquisition of Norwich, England-based municipal infrastructure-maintenance contractor May Gurney. The $337-million transaction creates a firm with a total of 16,000
Related Links: SKM July 25 World Bank Settlement Announcement SKM Global Code of Conduct UK's BS 10500 Anti-Bribery Management System Link to World Bank Sanctions Board decisions The World Bank has agreed to allow Australia-based engineer Sinclair Knight Merz to continue bidding on bank-financed global work under a July 24 pact that settles "improper payment" issues on past projects that the firm itself discovered and reported.SKM, which found the problems on unidentified projects in Southeast Asia and pointed them out last year, has terminated persons believed to be responsible for the ethical breaches and expanded anti-corruption programs throughout the company.Neither
Photo by Debra K. Rubin/ENR Work on the $279-million upgrade of the downtown Cobo Center event facility is not affected by the city's filing, say project officials. Related Links: Bankruptcy Filing Should Not Affect Arena District, M1 Rail Projects California Public Entity Bankruptcies: A New Contractor Challenge A Preliminary Road Map to the Chapter 9 Bankruptcy of the City of Detroit Although Detroit's Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing on July 18 is the largest in U.S. history with about $18 billion in liabilities, it is not expected to affect several key urban projects, project officials say. But state contractors are concerned
Related Links: CCA Civil Is Low Bidder on Pulaski Skyway Deck Replacement Plan to Close Pulaski Skyway in One Direction for Two Years Subject of Hearing Despite unsuccessful efforts in two New Jersey courts earlier this month for an emergency stay of a high-priority state road redecking contract awarded to China-linked CCA Civil Inc., rival bidder Conti Enterprises Inc., South Plainfield, N.J., will continue its legal fight, says a firm attorney.Conti says the award violates a 2012 state law against contracts to firms that the U.S. government says have business ties to Iran, and that CCA Civil did not disclose
Hill International Despite tumult in Egypt, work continues on $800-million museum project in Giza, set for completion in 2015, say project participants. Qatari Diar Nile Corniche mixed use project in Cairo, once set for 2014 completion, now is two years delayed. Related Links: Egypt Unrest Hits Projects As Firms are Forced to Send Expatriates Home Big Africa Projects Face Legal Battles, Community Protests Egypt Billionaire Sawiris Family to Invest 'Like Never Before' AON Global Risk Management Survey 2013 Two years after tumultuous regime change in Egypt, global construction firms in-country and outside are once again watching whether the formation of
Related Links: DOE Nuclear Waste Cleanup Contracts Under Scrutiny Issues Mount at Hanford Site, Including Waste Plant Design Website for the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment Plant Bridge-in-a-Backpack Tech 'Blows Up' Next-Gen Bridges Pipeline Services Firm Aegion Buys California Contractor Brinderson See who else is moving up, or moving on, at AEC sector firms Bechtel National Inc. has named Margaret "Peggy" McCullough as project director for the estimated $12.2-billion nuclear-waste vitrification project at the U.S. Energy Dept.'s Hanford site in Washington state. A principal vice president, she replaces Frank Russo, who is taking on a new assignment for Bechtel in the
Related Links: Interstate 595 Widening Marks Florida's First P3 Effort Special Report: Which Way the Winds are Blowing on P3s Association for the Improvement of American Infrastructure website Industry firms have formed a new advocacy group they hope will be a single voice for alternative project finance and delivery, particularly public-private partnerships.The non-profit Association for the Improvement of American Infrastructure says the P3 push is not just to fill funding gaps, but also to speed project schedules, manage life-cycle costs and foster more industry and other private-sector investment. Members hope to address why the U.S. is behind other nations in
Related Links: See who else in the AEC sector has moved up, or moved on Crystal River Plant Fix Central to Duke CEO Ouster CEO's Rise at Duke Energy Grew From Enron Fiasco As Reservoir Redo Starts, Tampa Bay Water Seeks New Leader Lynn Good has been elevated to president and CEO of Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke Energy, the largest U.S. electric utility. Formerly executive vice president and chief financial officer, she succeeds James Rogers, who remains chairman until December, when he is set to retire. Good is one of eight women CEOs of the 200 U.S. investor-owned utilities. She also
BRW, Australia Firm submitted inflated and disallowed costs on a tsunami rebuild-consulting contract, which was completed in 2010. Related Links: Link to World Bank Sanctions Board decisions SNC-Lavalin Debarred from World Bank Work for a Decade (subscription) The World Bank debarred Sydney, Australia-based GHD Pty Ltd. and two Indonesia subsidiaries last month from bank-financed projects for one year after a review found the local units and a sub-consultant had overbilled on a now-completed consulting contract for post-tsunami reconstruction.The bank's June 10 sanction does not apply to projects financed by other multi-lateral funding institutions under a "cross-debarment agreement," says a bank
