Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation, abbreviated as SWEC
It is often called Shiwei Company in China
Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation was founded in 1889 and is headquartered in Boston, USA. . Its business scope includes engineering project design, agency, management, construction, entrustment, production operation and maintenance, technical services and environmental consulting, etc. It has an extensive business network around the world. Shi Wei is a world leader in ethylene engineering technology and has designed and built more than 120 ethylene plants. Sales in 1998 were US$1.249 billion, with more than 5,000 employees in the United States and Europe.
In 1999, Jacobs Engineering Company, ranked No. 3 in the U.S. ENR (Engineering News), announced that it has entered into a partnership with Stone & Webster, No. 17 in the U.S. (hereinafter referred to as Stone & Webster). Wei Company) signed a letter of intent to acquire this well-known engineering and construction company with a long history. Shi Wei will sell all of its assets for $150 million in cash and stock. Jacob agreed to bear all of Shi Wei's debts and paid US$50 million in advance as working capital to help Shi Wei operate smoothly.
Such a prestigious company with a history of 111 years had to announce in early May 2000 that it was seeking a suitable company to sell its assets due to a serious cash flow crisis. The direct cause of this crisis was the delay in the company's natural gas thermal power generation project in Rhode Island, USA, which caused it to fall into a debt of US$27.5 million, causing its cash flow to collapse. Shi Wei's stock fell to $3 after the news broke, compared with more than $23 a year ago.
Jacob Engineering Company’s business is mainly engaged in chemical, petroleum and pharmaceutical engineering project services. It is also engaged in traditional construction projects such as roads and bridges. Sales in 1998 were US$2.101 billion, with 14,000 employees. The acquisition of Shiwei will make it one of the world's largest engineering, construction and consulting companies with the widest business scope. In particular, Shiwei will bring it the power engineering market with great development potential. The new company is expected to have annual sales of $4.3 billion.
Shiwei Company has a close cooperative relationship with China's petrochemical industry and has been developing business in China for more than 16 years. Early engineering projects were mainly in the petrochemical industry and hydropower generation. In the past 10 years, Shi Wei has undertaken the process technology part of 10 major engineering projects, and has completed technology transfer, engineering design and technical services for Guangzhou Petrochemical's 150,000 t/a ethylene unit and Maoming Petrochemical's 300,000 t/a ethylene unit. As well as the transfer of Daqing Petrochemical Company’s naphtha cracking furnace technology patents, engineering construction and services, and providing technical services for the FCC units of five companies including Wuhan, Zhenhai, Guangzhou, Nanjing and Baling.
Since the specific business development direction and personnel transfer situation of Jacobs after acquiring Shi Wei are still unclear, many foreign companies that have cooperative relationships and contract projects with Shi Wei are very concerned about the development of the situation. . The currently ongoing Yangtze BASF integration project and CNOOC's Nanhai petrochemical project both plan to use Shi Wei's technology. At the same time, Shi Wei is also the exclusive overseas agent and partner of Sinopec Group's DCC patented technology, so the development of this incident is also It will attract the attention of my country's petrochemical industry.