As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 4, 2021

Registration No. __________________

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-8

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933 

Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

1200 East Market Street, Suite 650

Akron, Ohio 44305

(Address, including zip code, of Principal Executive Offices)

Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. 2021 Long-Term Incentive Plan

(Full title of the plan)

Kenneth M. Young

Chief Executive Officer

Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc.

1200 East Market Street, Suite 650

Akron, Ohio 44305

Phone: (330) 753-4511

(Name, address and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

COPY TO:

C. Brophy Christensen, Esq.

O’Melveny & Myers LLP

Two Embarcadero Center, 28^th Floor

San Francisco, California 94111

(415) 984-8700

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ¨

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

The Exhibit Index for this Registration Statement is at page 7.

PART I

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE

SECTION 10(a) PROSPECTUS

The document(s) containing the information specified in Part I of Form S-8 will be sent or given to participants as specified by Securities Act Rule 428(b)(1).

PART II

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

The following documents of the Company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) are incorporated herein by reference:

All documents subsequently filed by the Company pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment which indicates that all securities offered hereby have been sold or which deregisters all securities then remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference into this Registration Statement and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of such documents; provided, however, that documents or information deemed to have been furnished and not filed in accordance with Commission rules shall not be deemed incorporated by reference into this Registration Statement. Any statement contained herein or in a document, all or a portion of which is incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference herein, shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this Registration Statement to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any other subsequently filed document which also is or is deemed to be incorporated by reference herein modifies or supersedes such statement. Any such statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or amended, to constitute a part of this Registration Statement.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Delaware Law

Section 145 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware provides that a corporation may indemnify directors and officers as well as other employees and individuals against expenses, including attorney’s fees, judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement in connection with various actions, suits or proceedings, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (other than an action by or in the right of the corporation, such as a derivative action), if they acted in good faith and in a manner they reasonably believed to be in, or not opposed to, the best interests of the corporation, and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, if they had no reasonable cause to believe their conduct was unlawful. A similar standard is applicable in the case of any actions by or in the right of the corporation, except that indemnification only extends to expenses, including attorneys’ fees, incurred in connection with the defense or settlement of such actions, and the statute requires court approval before there can be any indemnification where the person seeking indemnification has been found liable to the corporation. The statute provides that it is not exclusive of other indemnification that may be granted by a corporation’s certificate of incorporation, bylaws, agreement, a vote of stockholders or disinterested directors or otherwise.

Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws

The Company’s certificate of incorporation provides that a director of the corporation shall not be personally liable to the corporation or its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duties as a director, except for liability (a) for any breach of that director’s duty of loyalty to the Company or its stockholders, (b) for acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, (c) under Section 174 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, as the same exists or as the provision hereafter may be amended, supplemented or replaced, or (d) for any transactions from which that director derived an improper personal benefit.

The Company’s bylaws provide that it will indemnify and hold harmless, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law as it presently exists or may be amended, any person who was or is made or is threatened to be made a party or is otherwise involved in any action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative, by reason of the fact that such person or a person for whom such person is the legal representative, is or was a director or officer of the Company or, while a director or officer of the Company, is or was serving at the Company’s request as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation or of a partnership, joint venture, limited liability company, trust or other enterprise, including service with respect to employee benefit plans, against all liability and losses suffered and expenses (including attorneys’ fees) incurred by such person in connection with such action, suit or proceeding. The Company’s bylaws also provide that it will pay the expenses incurred by a director or officer in defending any such proceeding in advance of its final disposition, subject to such person providing the Company with specified undertakings. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Company’s bylaws provide that it shall be required to indemnify or make advances to a person in connection with a proceeding (or part thereof) initiated by such person only if the proceeding (or part thereof) was authorized by the Company’s board of directors. These rights are not exclusive of any other right that any person may have or may acquire under any statute, provision of the Company’s certificate of incorporation, bylaws, agreement, vote of stockholders or disinterested directors or otherwise. No amendment, modification or repeal of those provisions will in any way adversely affect any right or protection under those provisions of any person in respect of any act or omission occurring prior to the time of such amendment, modification or repeal.

The Company’s bylaws also permit the Company to secure and maintain insurance on behalf of any of its directors, officers, employees or agents and each person who is, or was, serving at the Company’s request as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, limited liability company, trust or other enterprise for any liability asserted against and incurred by such person in any such capacity. The Company has obtained directors’ and officers’ liability insurance providing coverage to its directors and officers.

Director and Officer Indemnification Agreements

The Company has entered into indemnification agreements with each of its directors and executive officers that require the Company to indemnify such persons to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law, from claims and losses arising from their service to the Company (other than certain claims brought by the indemnified party against the Company or any of its officers and directors). The agreements also provide each indemnified person with expense advancement to the extent the expenses arise from, or might reasonably be expected to arise from, an indemnifiable claim and are expected to contain additional terms meant to facilitate a determination of the indemnified person’s entitlement to such benefits.

Not applicable.

See the attached Exhibit Index at page 7, which is incorporated herein by reference.

(a)            The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:

(1)            To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement:

provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii) do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the Registrant pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement.

(2)            That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(3)            To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.

(b)            The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the Registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(h)            Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the Registrant pursuant to the provisions described in Item 6 above, or otherwise, the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the Registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

EXHIBIT INDEX

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act, the Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this Form S-8 Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Akron, State of Ohio, on June 4, 2021.

POWER OF ATTORNEY

Each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Kenneth M. Young and Louis Salamone and each of them, acting individually and without the other, as his or her true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for him or her and in his or her name, place, and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments, exhibits thereto and other documents in connection therewith) to this Registration Statement, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in and about the premises, as fully to all intents and purposes as he or she might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents, or either of them individually, or their or his substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act, this Registration Statement has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.