American Zinc Recycling secures $120M term loan facility

American Zinc Recycling Corp. (AZR), Pittsburgh, has announced that it has secured a new senior secured term loan credit facility provided by New York-based Blue Torch Finance LLC.

According to a news release from American Zinc Recycling, it provides the company with a $120 million term loan facility. Steve Bishop, executive vice president and chief financial officer at American Zinc Recycling, says the refinancing positions the company to better service its steel industry customers, particularly as the company ramps up its American Zinc Products (AZP) plant in Rutherford County, North Carolina.

“We are pleased to announce the completion of this transaction, which accomplishes a number of important objectives, including strengthening our liquidity, enhancing our financial flexibility and extending the duration of our debt,” Bishop says. “We emerge from this transaction in a robust commodity price environment with a strong hedging profile that eliminates nearly all of our commodity risk through 2022.”

According to AZR, the Blue Torch loan is secured by a first lien on all the assets of American Zinc Recycling and its subsidiaries. The loan will mature in 2024. The company says it was advised on the transaction by Ducera Securities LLC and by Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. Blue Torch was advised on the transaction by Dechert LLP.

“We are happy to have forged a strong relationship with Blue Torch and appreciate the confidence that they have shown in AZR,” says Joel Hawthorne, president and CEO of American Zinc Recycling Corp. “This transaction comes at an exciting time for the company as we recently announced the one-year anniversary of bringing [American Zinc Products] online. Today we are producing specialty high grade (SHG) zinc, providing a mission critical service to our electric arc furnace customers by recycling a hazardous material in an environmentally friendly way and returning a highly valuable end product to those same customers as well as many other end users. This financing provides us the runway to execute on our strategic vision and create tremendous value for our stakeholders.”