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Environmental Due Diligence Support - Acquisition of York Barbell Company
York, Pennsylvania
Brownfield Partners provided support to Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) attorneys and their client on the acquisition of the former York Barbell Company (York). A British company had offered to purchase York with a very short due diligence and closing period. GT provided outside legal support to conduct the business due diligence and assist the buyer with preparation of the acquisition documents. Brownfield Partners was retained by GT to perform environmental due diligence. While York recently operated only warehouse and distribution facilities, they had previously conducted manufacturing operations at the site. York also continued to perform limited finishing and painting operations, and had interests in subsidiary companies with potential Superfund environmental liabilities.
Brownfield Partners retained a subcontractor to perform a Phase I Site Assessment and limited compliance audit of York’s facilities. One of the Firm’s Partners participated and provided oversight to the Phase I/audit and worked with the GT attorneys to perform a comprehensive environmental file review. Brownfield Partners was able to evaluate findings in light of the business transaction and provide a memorandum report of findings to GT within days of the site visit.
Through this work, Brownfield Partners determined that there were no environmental liabilities significant enough to prohibit the buyer’s closing on the acquisition. A number of minor RCRA and OSHA violations were identified, however, and Brownfield Partners made recommendations for future environmental management for the facility. It was also determined that York was a de minimus PRP at an NPL site about which the company was not aware. All of this work was performed in a period of 15-days and the closing was held as scheduled.
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