Harris Williams & Co. is pleased to announce the sale of Roberts & Schaefer Company (Roberts & Schaefer), a subsidiary of Elgin National Industries (ENI), to KBR, Inc. (KBR). Roberts & Schaefer will be integrated into KBR’s Infrastructure, Government and Power Business Group. The transaction closed on December 21, 2010. Harris Williams & Co. acted as an advisor to Roberts & Schaefer.  The transaction was led by Tiff Armstrong, Brian Lucas, Drew Spitzer and Doug Kinard from the firm’s Richmond office.
 
“Roberts & Schaefer has a resume of experience that is unequalled in the industry and a history of delivering innovative and reliable material handling and processing solutions for its customers,” said Tiff Armstrong, a managing director and co-head of Harris Williams & Co.’s Energy & Power Group.  "We believe Roberts & Schaefer has found an excellent strategic partner in KBR as it continues to pursue its many attractive growth initiatives and meets a key strategic objective for KBR to enhance its existing minerals service offerings.
 
Roberts & Schaefer is a global leader in engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for bulk material handling and processing systems. The company provides services and solutions to customers in the mining and minerals, petroleum coke, aggregates, precious and base metals and associated processing infrastructure. In addition to its Chicago headquarters, Roberts & Schaefer has major operations in Salt Lake City, UT, and has an international project footprint through offices in Brisbane, Australia; Gliwice, Poland; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Ahmedabad, India. Roberts & Schaefer also includes Soros, a provider of material handling solutions for port and marine applications and Separator, providing services to coal, minerals and power markets in Eastern Europe.
 
ENI is a portfolio company of OCM/GFI Power Opportunities Fund II, L.P., a private equity fund co-managed by Los Angeles-based Oaktree Capital Management and GFI Energy Ventures. 
 
GFI Energy Ventures is a specialized investment team within Oaktree Capital Management. GFI's funds invest in profitable, growing companies with innovative products and services used in the power and energy industries. Through its fifteen year history, GFI funds have invested in more than sixty transactions with aggregate value of over $2.5 billion. Oaktree is a premier, global alternative and non-traditional investment manager headquartered in Los Angeles with over $78 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2010.