CB&I tells Shaw employees they are staying in La.

While employees of The Shaw Group may have been as surprised as anyone by Monday's announcement that the company will be acquired by CB&I, a Netherlands firm with U.S. operations based in The Woodlands, Texas, they received a personal welcome—with a hint of reassurances for their job security—via a video message from CB&I President and CEO Philip Asherman. According to a transcript of that video, filed earlier today with the SEC, Asherman tells Shaw's 27,000 employees, 5,000 of whom are in Louisiana, that "once this transaction is complete, you'll be employed by a company with the strongest energy focus in the industry. … We think the opportunities for employees will be substantial." Asherman goes on to say, "This transaction is a tremendous mutual opportunity to join two industry leading companies and leverage our combined strength." According to SEC filings, the combined companies will have some 50,000 employees, revenues in excess of $10 billion, and a project backlog of more than $28 billion. In a conference call earlier this week with market analysts, Asherman said CB&I intends to keep much of Shaw's Louisiana operations intact. "It will not be a migration to Texas," he says. "It will be just a management team in Louisiana … but it's our objective to retain and actually grow the opportunities for those employees in Louisiana." —Stephanie Riegel