POWER PLAYS.

• Position: STATEWIDE: CHARLOTTE

Until recently, 151-year-old Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises had largely remained under-the-radar since moving its headquarters to the Queen City in 2010. That's the year it spun out of Virginia-based engineering firm McDermott International and became a separate, publicly traded company. But another split in 2015--the current B&W comprises the power-generation business of its former parent company--has led to a rocky period for the company, which provides energy and environmental technology and services.

In June, B&W said it plans to sell off two subsidiaries --industrial manufacturers MEGTEC and Universal--for about $130 million to German engineering firm Durr AG. The announcement came less than two weeks after Steel Partners Holdings, a New York-based hedge fund that owns 17.8% of the company, offered for the second time to buy B&W, which is divided into three business segments: power, renewable and industrial. That deal would give shareholders $3 to $3.50 per share in cash; a December offer by Steel Partners was rejected by B&W. Shares were trading between $2.40 and $2.50 in mid-June.

Formed by investor Warren Lichtenstein in 1990 when he was 24, Steel Partners owns interests in more than a dozen companies, mostly with relatively small market values. Its investments span a range of businesses including banking, industrial products and energy services.

B&W started restructuring its traditional power business in mid-2016 as U.S. demand for coal generation slumped. In February 2017, the company surprised investors by disclosing a $140 million loss due to setbacks in construction projects in its renewables segment, which is based in Denmark...