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This March 2017 photo,shows a sign at the entrance to Westinghouse headquarters in Cranberry.
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Westinghouse emerges from bankruptcy with new owner

Keith Srakocic/AP

Westinghouse emerges from bankruptcy with new owner

Westinghouse Electric Co. now officially belongs to a Canadian asset management firm.

The Cranberry-based nuclear company announced that it emerged from bankruptcy on Wednesday, having secured all the regulatory approvals to transfer ownership to Brookfield Business Partners.

The purchase price now stands at $3.8 billion.

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Westinghouse was plunged into bankruptcy last year after billions of dollars in losses on two new nuclear construction projects in Georgia and South Carolina. The latter one was canceled.

In January, Westinghouse, which was then owned by Toshiba Corp., said Brookfield had emerged as the successful bidder.

“With the support of Brookfield, Westinghouse will continue to build on its legacy of leading the nuclear industry,” said Westinghouse CEO José Emeterio Gutiérrez.

Sarah Cassella, a spokesperson for the nuclear firm, said no leadership changes have been announced. The company’s global headcount is now around 10,000, she said.

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Over the past week, Westinghouse has sought a number of changes to its purchase agreement to finalize the deal. They included transferring responsibility for the company’s executive pension plan to the reorganized company.

Participants in the plan — which stopped accruing money in January 2017 — had filed claims totaling $135 million, assuming that the company would seek to reject the plan in bankruptcy. But Westinghouse told the court that it can handle the plan, with its projected monthly expenses of $400,000.

Another change was making sure that Westinghouse’s continuing dispute with CB&I, its former construction contractor on the two AP1000 projects, doesn’t follow the business on its new path.

CB&I claims Westinghouse owes it $1.1 billion. Westinghouse wanted that legal fight to be fought by the entity that will be left behind to settle the bankruptcy claims and dole out Brookfield’s money to creditors.

In a statement supporting these changes, along with a $40 million drop in the purchase price, Westinghouse’s CFO Daniel Sumner said Westinghouse is on track to cut $241 million from its costs by December and is already ahead of targets in its five-year strategic plan.

The company’s earnings before income taxes and depreciation totaled $424 million as of March 31, he wrote.

Anya Litvak: alitvak@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1455.

First Published: August 1, 2018, 9:26 p.m.

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This March 2017 photo,shows a sign at the entrance to Westinghouse headquarters in Cranberry.  (Keith Srakocic/AP)
Keith Srakocic/AP
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