Engineering and construction company The Shaw Group plans to sell its minority investment in nuclear power plant company Westinghouse Electric Co. back to Japan’s Toshiba Corp. The sale would help it shed some debt and strengthen its balance sheet. But it would also mean there would be no U.S. investors in Westinghouse, which is more than 100 years old and is based in Monroeville, Penn. Shaw says it is still under contract with Westinghouse for six U.S. nuclear power plants and four plants under construction in China. The Baton Rouge-based company also expects to continue to work with Westinghouse and Toshiba on certain projects.
Shaw subsidiary Nuclear Energy Holdings obtained a 20% stake in Westinghouse in October 2006 for $1.08 billion, while Toshiba purchased a 77% interest from the U.K.’s British Nuclear Fuels for $4.2 billion; Japanese heavy machinery maker IHI Corp. bought the remaining 3%.
By selling its Westinghouse stake, Shaw says it would get rid of about $1.7 billion in debt. Recently, the drop in the U.S. dollar versus the yen has negatively affected the Westinghouse segment because Shaw used bonds denominated in yen to finance its investment in the business. Nuclear Energy plans to exercise put options to sell its Westinghouse investment back to Toshiba. Shaw shares slipped 30 cents to $21.53 in pre-market trading today.
