HOUSTON, March 31, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Willbros Group, Inc. (NYSE: WG) today announced that it has closed the transaction for the sale of all outstanding membership units of its Premier Services subsidiary to USIC Locating Services, LLC, a subsidiary of USIC, LLC. Willbros will apply net proceeds from the sale to debt reduction, expected to be in the range of $40 to $45 million, after customary closing costs and adjustments.

John T. McNabb, II, Willbros Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We have now completed another important asset sale which enables us to meaningfully reduce our debt. These sales and the corresponding strengthening of our balance sheet make Willbros a stronger and more focused company as we maintain our core competencies and benefit from greater financial strength and flexibility. The earlier sales of CTS in April 2014 and UtilX in March 2015 and this transaction are positive steps toward our goal to strengthen our balance sheet as we continue to move forward with the planned sale of additional non-strategic assets.”

USIC’s CEO Rob Tullman commented, “This is an exciting transaction which will add customers in gas transmission and distribution, and brings new specialty field services. USIC welcomes the Premier operating team and looks forward to serving the Premier customers.”

Houlihan Lokey served as financial advisor and Conner & Winters, LLP acted as legal counsel to Willbros Group, Inc. Jefferies LLC acted as financial advisor and Latham & Watkins LLP acted as legal counsel to USIC in connection with the transaction.

About USIC
USIC is a leading underground utility locating and damage prevention Company in North America. USIC’s 6,500 utility locate technicians protect the assets of utility and telecom companies in 33 states and Canada. USIC is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. For more information please visit www.usicllc.com.

About Willbros
Willbros is a specialty energy infrastructure contractor serving the oil, gas, refining, petrochemical and power industries. Its offerings include engineering, procurement and construction (either individually or as an integrated EPC service offering), maintenance, facilities development and operations services. For more information on Willbros, please visit its website at www.willbros.com.

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, which address activities, events or developments the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, are forward-looking statements. A number of risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements, including ability to dispose of businesses and assets in a timely manner at reasonable valuations; and the failure to satisfy conditions to the closing of such transactions; as well as other risk factors described from time to time in the Company’s documents and reports filed with the SEC. The Company assumes no obligation to update publicly such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

CONTACT:
Michael W. Collier
SVP Investor Relations
Marketing & Communications
Willbros
713-403-8038

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SOURCE Willbros Group, Inc.