William “Bill” Koertner, the president and CEO of MYR Group Inc., was knee-deep in a swamp on a job site in Florida when the editors of Transmission & Distribution World contacted him regarding the recent acquisition of his company by an investment firm. The firm, ArcLight Capital Partners (Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.), purchased a 60% stake in MYR Group (Rolling Meadows, Illinois, U.S.) from FirstEnergy Corp. (Akron, Ohio, U.S.) on March 10, 2006. When Koertner made it back to dry land, he phoned T&D World to discuss the deal.

MYR Group, which was acquired by FirstEnergy in 2001 as part of a larger transaction, is not a core business for FirstEnergy. “That's what caused FirstEnergy to want to sell an interest in the company,” Koertner explained.

His role in this deal was providing the due diligence and ensuring that ArcLight understood MYR Group's goals. ArcLight's investment team, which has $2.5 billion under management, has extensive energy-investing experience and, according to its website, the company is “dedicated to building a long-term and leading private equity franchise in the energy sector.”

One way ArcLight plans to do this is through MYR Group. Koertner said the company will be putting new money into MYR Group, and that ArcLight shares MYR Group's vision about the buildout of the transmission system and the importance of safety in the workplace.

ArcLight has invested in other energy ventures such as power plants, transmission lines and coal reserves, but all of those businesses were “asset based,” Koertner noted. “[MYR Group] is purely a service business, where your assets walk out the door every day at 5 o'clock, and ArcLight recognizes that you can't treat this like a power plant or mining business.”

ArcLight, MYR Group and FirstEnergy held their first organization meeting on March 28, where they determined the board of directors and committees. Furthermore, the management team was offered stock options, which were discussed in detail at the meeting.