The John Wood Group said Wednesday it expects later this month to complete the sale of its nuclear business to Jacobs, following regulatory approval in the United Kingdom.
The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority has signed off on the deal, the Scotland-based energy services multinational said in a brief press release. “Wood and Jacobs continue to work towards completion of transaction which is expected later this month.”
The companies announced the £250 million ($321.8 million) sale last August.
Dallas-based program and construction management giant Jacobs would acquire business across the complete nuclear life cycle, covering decommissioning, remediation, and radioactive waste management. Last year, Wood and five other corporate teams were picked to compete for over $500 million in decommissioning business at the retired Dounreay fast-reactor site in Scotland. It also holds a contract worth up to $1 billion over 20 years for engineering design at the Sellafield nuclear processing and cleanup complex in Cumbria.
Ninety percent of Wood’s nuclear business is done in the United Kingdom, with the remaining divided between Western Europe and the rest of the world.
Jacobs is already a major player in nuclear cleanup for government and commercial clients in the United States and abroad. It bolstered its position with the $3 billion acquisition of CH2M in 2017. It also does work at Dounreay, along with U.S. nuclear cleanup sites ranging from the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Shallow Land Disposal Area in Pennsylvania.
In discussing the deal last year, Jacobs said the merged nuclear businesses would employ about 7,200 workers and generate about $1.5 billion in revenue. Roughly 70% of its portfolio would involve nuclear cleanup, encompassing facility decommissioning and dismantlement. Of the rest, 20% would cover support for defense nuclear operations and 10% support for nuclear power operations.
“We continue to expect $12 million in annual cost synergies and expect approximately $30 million of transaction costs and cost to achieve synergies,” Jacobs President and Chief Financial Officer Kevin Berryman said of the acquisition during the company’s Feb. 4 earnings call with financial analysts.
From The Wires
From The Herald: The United Kingdom Defense Ministry plans a new radioactive waste disposal site at the naval base in Faslane, Scotland.
