McDermott soars after saying Lummus unit received unsolicited approaches

Shares of McDermott International are surging after the company announced that it recently received unsolicited approaches to acquire all or part of Lummus Technology, with valuations exceeding $2.5B. "Based on the receipt of these approaches, McDermott is exploring strategic alternatives to unlock the value of Lummus Technology while maintaining the strategic rationale of engineering, procurement and construction pull-through," the company said in a statement. Lummus Technology is a licensor of proprietary petrochemicals, refining, gasification and gas processing technologies, and a supplier of proprietary catalysts and related engineering. David Dickson, CEO of McDermott, noted, "The process of exploring strategic alternatives is part of our ongoing efforts intended to improve McDermott's capital structure, and we plan to use the proceeds from any transaction involving Lummus Technology to strengthen our balance sheet. While Lummus is an important business within McDermott, we have decided to undertake a process to fully realize its strategic and financial value." Separately, McDermott's previously announced processes to sell the remaining portion of its pipe fabrication business and its industrial storage tank business are ongoing, the company added. McDermott has retained Evercore as the lead advisor on the strategic alternatives process for Lummus Technology. Shares of McDermott are u p 46%, or 72c, to $2.30 in premarket trading.