Encompass Services Corp. to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

Encompass Services Corp., a national contractor that made headlines in the 1990s for acquiring dozens of electrical contractors, plans to file for bankruptcy protection. The Houston-based specialty contractor was also in the janitorial services business through a 1999 merger with another rollup, Group Maintenance America Corp.

As part of Encompass' financial restructuring plan, senior secured lenders will receive a $200 million term loan and 80 percent of the new common stock; the subordinated debt holders will get 20 percent of the new common stock; and preferred stock holders will receive no value, according to an Oct. 14 Yahoo! Finance story.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) recently suspended trading in the shares of Encompass Services Corp. and filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission to delist the stock for not complying with the exchange's listing requirements. The company's stock failed to meet the NYSE's average closing price rule of at least $1 and minimum average global market capitalization requirement of $15 million.

With $1.6 billion in 2001 electrical sales, Encompass was ranked as the second-largest electrical contractor in the United States in the Top 50 listing of electrical contractors published in CEE News' June 2002 issue.