EnergySolutions Enters a $60 Million "Stalking Horse" Agreement to Acquire Certain Assets from Williams Industrial Services Group in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Proceedings

In summary, Williams Industrial is seeking Chapter 11 protection with the Bankruptcy Court. As part of this filing, EnergySolutions has agreed to purchase various assets from Williams Industrial for $60MM, pending the Court's approval. However, approval of the deal may take two months or longer.

Salt Lake City headquartered EnergySolutions Nuclear Services has made a $60 million "Stalking Horse" bid to acquire certain assets from Williams Industrial Services Group (NYSE:WLMS) in a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Court filing* made recently by Williams Industrial.

Under terms of Williams Industrial's recent Form 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (and if approved by the Bankruptcy Court), EnergySolutions would acquire from Williams Industrial all of its assets related to a broad range of construction and maintenance services to contracted customers in the

• Nuclear,
• Conventional Power (fossil, hydro, natural gas),
• Energy Delivery,
• Water and Wastewater,
• Non-unionized Pulp and Paper Operations,
• Chemical, and
• Governmental industries.

In the news release published by Williams Industrial, EnergySolutions' President and CEO, Ken Roebuck said (in part):

“This is a strategic move that will allow EnergySolutions to expand our nuclear services offerings to existing nuclear operating plants and, ultimately, to support the nuclear industry’s drive to create more clean, carbon-free energy through nuclear plant life extension work and the construction of new technologies.... Combined with our nuclear waste, decommissioning and onsite integrated services, this acquisition will nicely complement our existing business lines and provide an excellent platform for future growth and expansion into other sectors of the nuclear industry.”

Due to the fact that this proposed asset acquisition is in the form of a Stalking Horse bid, there is no guarantee that the purchase will take place because the Court needs to approve such a transaction.

Based upon my reading of the Form 8-K filing, it appears that the soonest this deal could close would be late September, if then.

But ... because Stalking Horse bids form a price floor for the asset sale ... AND ... because EnergySolutions and Williams Industrial have the agreement in place, I expect EnergySolutions will be successful in its proposed acquisition.

What has not been disclosed, however, is the size or value of the assets or the various contracts Williams Industrial currently has in place in the industries noted above.

If/when I can suss-out that information, I will provide an update here.

Other Thoughts - Overstock.com's Stalking Horse Bid in June

Interestingly, this is the second significant publicly disclosed Stalking Horse bid involving a Utah-based acquiror this summer, the first being the Overstock.com's (NASDAQ:OSTK) acquisition of certain Bed Bath & Beyond assets for $21.5 million in June.

{See "ANALYSIS: Overstock's $21.5 Million Bet Drives a 22% Pop in its Stock Valuation - In Under 24 Hours" to get our take on this deal.}

Interestingly, Overstock's corporate valuation now stands at over $1.5 billion.

That means that since the June 21 announcement, Overstock has seen its share price jump nearly 65% from $21.19/share to roughly $34.75/share (as of 10:50am ET today).

That's a jump of ~$600 million in 5 weeks, all from a tiny cost of $21.5MM to acquire the various assets of BB&B.

What an absolutely freakin' brilliant move by Overstock, its CEO (Jonathan Johnson), and its entire  executive team!

One Last Thing: Likely Delisting for Williams Industrial

In its SEC filing, Williams Industrial stated that if it is successful in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring, it expects to be delisted by the New York Stock Exchange.

If so, shares of Williams Industrial would no longer be available for sale or purchase via the NYSE, and Williams Industrial would become a privately held company.