The consolidation trend has hit the demolition and remediation construction sector in a big way, with major players LVI Services Inc., New York City, and NCM Group Holdings Inc., Brea, Calif., announcing on April 24 an agreement to merge.
The new combined firm, to be called NorthStar Group Holdings LLC, will have annual revenue of about $600 million and an average employment of about 5,000 in 50 U.S. offices, the firms say.
NorthStar says it will be "the foremost provider" of services in environmental remediation, deconstruction and demolition, nuclear decommissioning, emergency response and asset recovery management.
LVI ranks at No. 29 on ENR's list of the Top 200 Environmental Firms, with $405 million in 2012 revenue. NCM reported $212 million in 2012 revenue.
NCM was formed in 2011 when management and equity firm Evergreen Pacific Partners acquired and integrated sector firms Nuprecon, CST Environmental and MARCOR.
The privately-held firms did not release transaction details, but say the deal was done "via a merger of equity in the two entities and placement of a substantial debt financing led by M&T Bank."
Leading the company as CEO will be Scott E. State, currently president and CEO of LVI, and as president, Subhas “Sage” Khara, who now is NCM president and CEO.
Khara and LVI Chief Operating Officer John Leonard will manage NorthStar day-to-day operations, says the firm.
"The demolition and abatement markets can be very capital and manpower intensive and with more scale we believe we can more efficiently serve our target markets," State told ENR.
“The synergies will allow us to serve our clients with a broader set of service offerings,” says Khara.
The two companies have decades of experience with Fortune 500 companies and public sector clients at the local, state and federal levels, says the NorthStar statement.
LVI Environmental of Nevada now is set to demolish the unfinished Harmon Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in three phases over the next year. The $279-million 28-story oval-shaped tower this week received court approval to be leveled prior to a Sept. 24 jury trial between owner MGM Resorts International and contractor Tutor Perini Building Corp. over building defects.
Designed by Sigma Engineering Solutions, the demolition plan calls for tearing down the Harmon piecemeal from top-to-bottom, floor-by-floor, using “conventional equipment.”
The plan has received Clark County approval; a demolition permit has already been issued, confirms county spokesman Dan Kulin.
The blue-glass tower, designed by Foster+Partners, anchors the northeast corner of the $8.5-billion CityCenter hotel-entertainment complex that opened in December 2009 but was never occupied.
According to State, NorthStar's new structure will allow LVI to broaden its growing emergency response business and work in nuclear decommissioning.
NorthStar declined to comment on an online report in an international demolition publication that LVI's Leonard would manage projects using union workers, and Khara would manage its non union operations, noting confidentiality.
The firms anticipate more global expansion. They do little work in Canada but operate in about 10 countries, mostly in nuclear and radiological based services including a role in support of the decommissioning of the U.K.'s Magnox former nuclear facilities.
