Raytheon, company building chemical incinerator, sold

This story was published Sat, Jul 8, 2000

By The Associated Press

BOISE, Idaho - Morrison Knudsen Corp. has completed its purchase of the Raytheon Engineers & Constructors, a division of the Raytheon Co., company officials reported Friday.

The deal has been in the works several months. The Raytheon division includes Raytheon Demilitarization Co., which is building a chemical weapons incinerator at the Umatilla weapons depot.

The depot, seven miles west of Hermiston, stores 220,604 munitions and containers filled with 7.4 million pounds of deadly nerve and mustard agents. The Army plans to begin burning the weapons in an incinerator in October 2001.

Pending shareholder approval, the combined company will be named Washington Group International Inc., a firm with more than $5 billion in annual revenues and a backlog of some $6.6 billion. Starting today, the company will operate under the new name.

"This is a milestone day for the employees of MK and RE&C, and our shareholders," said Dennis R. Washington, chairman and chief executive officer of the new company.

Under the terms of the transaction, Morrison Knudsen Corp. paid about $53 million in cash and assumed liabilities of approximately $450 million.

 

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