Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises Inc (NYSE:BW) experienced a pronounced drop in premarket trading Friday, with shares falling 12.6% after the company announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering below recent trading levels.
The firm set the public offering at 10,810,811 shares of common stock priced at $18.50 per share. That pricing is expected to generate gross proceeds of approximately $200 million before deductions for underwriting discounts and commissions.
As part of the arrangement, Babcock & Wilcox granted the underwriters a 30-day option to buy up to an additional 15% of the shares sold in the offering. The option would be exercisable at the public offering price, less the underwriting discounts and commissions that apply to the offering.
The offering is scheduled to close on May 18, 2026, subject to customary closing conditions.
In outlining the intended uses of the net proceeds, the company said it plans to prepay amounts outstanding under its Credit Agreement and then reborrow those amounts to fund project-related capital expenditures and working capital needs. The company specifically identified uses designed to influence steam turbine and boiler production capacity and to support growth initiatives.
Among the growth initiatives cited are power-generation projects for AI data centers and commercialization efforts for the company’s BrightLoop technology. The filing also lists other potential uses of proceeds, including funding potential acquisitions of aftermarket or other energy businesses, strengthening the balance sheet and general corporate purposes.
Bank participation in the deal is led by B. Riley Securities as the lead book-running manager. Craig-Hallum and Lake Street Capital Markets are acting as joint book-running managers, while Northland Capital Markets is serving as co-manager.
The company’s market reaction to the offering price and the stated use of proceeds feeds directly into investor focus on dilution, balance-sheet strategy and the funding of specific production and technology initiatives. The offering terms and the 30-day overallotment option give the underwriters a typical degree of flexibility to meet investor demand, and the scheduled close date remains contingent on customary conditions.
Contextual note: The facts reported here reflect the details provided by Babcock & Wilcox in its offering announcement, including the number of shares, the public offering price, the expected gross proceeds, the reborrowing plan tied to its Credit Agreement, the stated project uses and the underwriting syndicate and roles.