Case 1: Multiple Acquisitions by Marine Services Firm, VA, PA, TX, OR and WA.

For nearly a decade, EXCALIBUR conducted environmental business risk assessments in support of a series of successful acquisitions by a nationwide marine services firm.  This repeat customer calls EXCALIBUR a “valuable partner in helping execute our business strategy.”  To date, our assessments in support of this client have looked at facilities in Norfolk , VA , Philadelphia , PA , Houston , TX , Portland , OR , and Seattle , WA , providing support services to customers operating in inland waterways, coastal ports, and at off-shore facilities.

Case 2 – Desk Top Due Diligence Studies.

EXCALIBUR performed “desk top” environmental due diligence assignments for a client looking to formulate viable offers for companies seeking auction bids.  When the target company was entertaining first-round auction bids, it was not possible to complete traditional environmental due diligence as defined by the ASTM E 1527 standard practice.  Nonetheless, the client sought an informed judgment concerning the target company’s potential environmental liabilities so the bid could be framed that balances staying in the auction process and reasonably accounting for liabilities that the client deems material.

“….What I have most appreciated is how your senior staff have tailored their support in ways that make sense for the timelines and structures of each transaction…and equipping our clients with the critical information they need….”

Case 3 – Environmental Business Risk Assessment – Munitions Manufacturer

EXCALIBUR completed an environmental business risk assessment in support of a client’s acquisition of a manufacturer of less-than-lethal inert munitions and chemical-based munitions used by the military and/or civilian law enforcement agencies.  This facility was comprised of 12 buildings on 92 developed acres as part of a 150-acre owned property.  Other features included four aboveground explosives storage magazines; a test pit; a test stand; a test pad; a septic mound; a former burn pit; an indoor firing range and two outdoor firing ranges; a variety of outdoor storage containers; and a former farm pond.

EXCALIBUR‘s assessment encompassed the limited “dirt liability” focus of ASTM E 1527 plus the addition of a high-level environmental and occupational health & safety compliance review, a review of off-site disposal practices and associated potential liabilities.

Case 4 – Environmental Liability Estimations, Mining/Ore Facilities, CA, CO, NM, PA.

Developed and oversaw the implementation of a fast-track environmental due diligence project involving five mining and ore processing facilities. The client, a Japanese conglomerate, needed the information to support its decision on whether and how much to bid on the portfolio. Documentation contained in data rooms prepared by the prospective buyer’s and seller’s counsels were evaluated along with information gleaned from interviews with the seller’s management prior to developing the scope of the valuation liability investigation.

The known and likely environmental liabilities identified during the due diligence effort totaled $60 million in capital expenditures and $1-2 million in annual operation and maintenance costs.

Case 5 – Environmental Insurance Loss Control Program, Multiple States.

A unique prototype of an environmental loss control program was developed for a 100-year old insurance company. The client was interested in evaluating the insurability of select business interruption and production losses due to environmental releases and corrective actions. The pilot program, which was developed and tested at multiple insured manufacturing plants across the U.S., was designed to collect, evaluate, quantify, and communicate information on the environmental risks both to the underwriters and the insured. A comprehensive written protocol was prepared for insurance company representatives describing how to prepare for and conduct on-site loss control surveys, including guidance on data collection techniques, selective file searching, and prioritization on what facility features and environmental risk factors are of greatest importance.

Case 6 – Due Diligence Support – Multinational Client

EXCALIBUR regularly provides due diligence support services to its multinational client including: in-depth independent research; insightful corporate and regulatory file reviews; investigative interviews with private parties; windshield surveys and site inspections; tailor-made data base searches; field reconnaissance and photographic documentation; corporate profiling; and numerous other investigative services with or without the participation and knowledge of target company personnel.

Case 7 – Due Diligence Program Management for Investment Bank

Since 2009, EXCALIBUR designed and managed a commercial lender’s / bank’s environmental due diligence program for a multi-billion portfolio of commercial asset loans. EXCALIBUR serves as the lender’s due diligence technical advisor for the investment bank’s foreclosure and other business decisions. Whenever EXCALIBUR’s client contemplates possibly taking title to and control of the real property offered as collateral for a loan declared in default

Case 8 – Environmental Liability Assessment / $60M Investment Decision Advisory, Chemical Plant, International Chemical Client, NV

EXCALIBUR was retained by a worldwide chemical manufacturer to provide critical intelligence needed make a strategic investment decision involving a chemical manufacturing facility located on the site of a former WW II complex that had caused substantial groundwater impacts to surface water with perchlorate contamination extending hundreds of miles offsite. The investor hired EXCALIBUR to confidentially determine the status of their competitor’s manufacturing and environmental liabilities across many dimensions. Key areas of interest included the: status of the confidential manufacturing/ production operations; environmental compliance status; potential cost impact of more stringent clean-up standards under regulatory review; ongoing/ likely future long-term environmental engineering/ remediation/ O&M costs; potential for environmental liability-driven business interruption; current environmental insurance coverage/ pay-outs, potential third party liabilities, and overall pollution cost recovery remuneration through on-going legal actions against the US government.

Case 9 – Oxychem – Love Canal Site in Buffalo, NY

EXCALIBUR advised senior management at an international chemical company on environmental liabilities and risks associated with complex real estate / technology acquisition deal involving several chemical production facilities in NY and OH with a long history of contamination – the largest of which was the primary contributor to the infamous Love Canal Superfund Site. As their environmental asset and liability investigator, EXCALIBUR collaborated with their corporate attorneys, construction engineers, manufacturing, and financial managers to evaluate the feasibility and environmental risks of investing in three major chemical intermediate manufacturing facilities in New York and Ohio. EXCALIBUR assisted the due diligence team and identified several faults associated with the proposed property transfer approach designed to protect the buyer from liabilities arising from the pre-existing contamination. The largest of the three facilities was to be an “asset purchase” of the chemical complex & equipment and “lease” of the underlying land. EXCALIBUR notified its client that this arrangement may not provide significant or adequate protection once there was a hazardous substances spill of any type or volume from the acquired facility. Unless the client could successfully demonstrate that such releases from its operations were discrete and could be physically segregated from the remaining site contamination (i.e., no co-mingling of the wastes), they could likely be deemed liable under CERCLA for the entire site; cautions that EXCALIBUR’s international investor had not considered.

Case 10 – Pre-Investment and Divestiture Environmental Liability Assessments of Joint Venture Nanoparticle Manufacturing Facility, International Chemical Company, Arizona

EXCALIBUR was retained to assess the potential for traditional and nanoparticle environmental liabilities of cutting-edge nanotechnology development, research and development (R&D) and nanotube and carbon-carbon composite and thermal management products manufacturing facility co-located within a larger R&D and production plant in Arizona. Divestiture Environmental Assessment – years later the client retained EXCALIBUR again to conduct an environmental liability and asset management JV close-out assessment to document the overall environmental operational conditions in comparison to the conditions and findings noted in EXCALIBUR’s baseline pre-investment environmental report.