CBS Sells Remainder of Westinghouse

CBS Corp. agreed to sell its Westinghouse nuclear and contracting units to a venture of Morrison Knudsen Corp. and British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. for $1.19 billion in cash and assumed liabilities. The sale would complete the dismantling of Westinghouse, which transformed into a media company when it was renamed CBS and relocated to New York from Pittsburgh in December. Boise, Idaho-based Morrison Knudsen will take a 60% stake in the venture, and BNFL, the U.K.’s state-owned nuclear-fuel processor, will own the remainder. The acquisition comes just months after President Clinton lifted a ban that kept U.S. companies out of China’s nuclear power market, worth $60 billion a year. The Westinghouse nuclear unit builds, services and dismantles nuclear plants around the world, and the contracting unit cleans up hazardous materials at U.S. government sites. Its 24,000 employees are expected to be retained at the new company, which will be based in Monroeville, Pa.