Redishred Capital Corp., Mississauga, Ontario, has completed the acquisition of the Proshred Atlanta business from its franchisee located in Atlanta. The acquisition was effective at the end of the day July 30. The location earned about $1.3 million in revenue during the 2020 fiscal year and currently operates five trucks in the Atlanta market.

The acquisition includes on-site paper and hard drive shredding trucks, containers, client relationships and other assets used in the shredding business. Redishred says the Atlanta market has the size, scope and growth profile for this to be an “attractive market” moving forward as the area has a population of more than 6 million people and its population has grown by 15 percent in the last decade.

According to a news release from Redishred, the company views this acquisition as accretive to its cash flows and earnings on a per share basis. The company financed this acquisition through cash reserves and from accessing CA$854,000 from its acquisition loan facility.

Redishred reports that the purchase price of the acquisition has a target payout of between $2 million and $2.9 million based on the performance of the operation over the following three years from the closing date. Cash consideration was $2 million. The remaining consideration was in the form of earnout provisions tied to attainment of financial metrics.

A consortium of trade associations has given its backing to a bill introduced in the United States Senate that would give the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission “jurisdiction over the markets, including the process, oversight, transparency and manner in which reference prices for aluminum premiums are set or reported.”

That phrasing is found in the second paragraph of the second section of House Resolution (HR) 2698, legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in April. It also is used in the Aluminum Pricing Examination (APEX) Act recently reintroduced in the Senate by Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) and Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas).

“We applaud Sens. Baldwin and Cotton for their work to ensure aluminum costs reflect market fundamentals,” says Jim McGreevy, president and CEO of the Washington-based Beer Institute, one of five trade associations releasing a joint statement backing the bill.

The bills likely are tied to an effort to reconsider and repeal tariffs introduced by the Trump administration in 2018 on imported aluminum. Aluminum consumers, including beverage can makers and boat manufacturers, have long contended the tariffs have restricted aluminum supplies and caused spikes in prices.

The associations cite a report by Texas-based Harbor Aluminum which found that from March 2018 through December 2020 the Section 232 tariffs “cost America’s beverage industries an additional $848.6 million.”

The associations say the tariffs “have created significant costs on aluminum end-users, and these costs are only magnified by the problem inherent in the current aluminum premium pricing structure. When the tariffs are coupled with the effects of the pandemic, American businesses are faced with enormous costs, and American jobs and future investments are imperiled.”

As prices for aluminum in the U.S. have risen (including prices for used beverage cans (UBCs) and other aluminum scrap), the Midwest Premium (MWP) has gained attention. Pricing service S&P Global Platts says the MWP “is not a ‘fee’—it reflects the regional price of aluminum.”

The Section 232 tariffs, by imposing a 10 percent duty on aluminum imports, have likely contributed to a lofty MWP in recent years. Also contributing has been a steady rise in demand for aluminum packaging caused in part by a growing stay-at-home beverage market during the pandemic and by recycled-content aluminum’s positive status as sustainable packaging.

Whether the effort to investigate the MWP and other pricing mechanisms outlasts the Section 232 tariffs on aluminum (if and when such tariffs are rolled back) will be closely watched by aluminum producers and aluminum scrap processors.

On its website, S&P Global states “commodity transactions occur out of sight” but its tracking of the MWP and other prices “sheds light on these deals as a neutral third party.” Adds the business information service, “S&P Global Platts provides an independent assessment of where commodity prices fall each day and has no financial stake in the price going up or down.”

The five trade associations (American Beverage, the Beer Institute, the Consumer Brands Association, the Flexible Packaging Association and the National Marine Manufacturers Association), however, sound anxious to find out more about the pricing methodology.

“As manufacturers face cost increases at every link in their supply chains, there could not be a more important moment for this legislation,” says Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the Consumer Brands Association. “The APEX Act will bring more certainty and transparency for the consumer packaged goods industry – which depends on aluminum to make and package everything from aluminum foil to canned goods –  and will allow the consumer packaged goods industry to continue to deliver essential goods to the American people. We thank Senators Baldwin and Cotton for their leadership on this critical issue.”

The text of HR 2698, identical or nearly identical to the APEX Act, can be found on this web page.

PolyQuest Inc., a Wilmington, North Carolina-based distributor of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resins and manufacturer of recycled PET resins, has promoted Ryan Nettles and Brad Willingham to senior vice presidents.

Nettles has been named senior vice president of operations and recycle. He will continue to lead PolyQuest’s operational and recycling efforts, contributing to strategic initiatives with business partners, enhancing product quality and performance and driving continuous improvement across the company’s recycling division.

Since joining PolyQuest in 2006, Nettles has demonstrated leadership of the company’s manufacturing and warehousing operations, according to a news release the company issued announcing the promotions. With his oversight, PolyQuest says it has grown its recycled production capacity to more than 160 million pounds per year and has become a trusted provider of rPET flake and resins and a toll processor of its customers’ material streams.

Willingham has been promoted to senior vice president of business development and will continue to drive growth into new products and markets for PolyQuest.

He joined the company in 2014, leading new business development. During his tenure, Willingham has expanded PolyQuest’s footprint into the specialty PET, postindustrial rPET, polystyrene and polypropylene markets. He has generated incremental value for the business partners of PolyQuest with his grasp of the technical aspects of the company’s products and market fundamentals, according to the news release.

“Ryan and Brad have both exhibited outstanding leadership within our company,” says Tod Durst, president of PolyQuest. “Their consistent interface with customers, suppliers and other business partners is consistent with our core values and a primary reason we have been able to successfully expand our business over the last decade. There is tremendous opportunity for PolyQuest to continue to grow in a variety of areas, including the distribution of virgin polyethylene resins and enhancement of our well-established business in recycled PET, with Ryan and Brad at the forefront of realizing our true growth potential.”

In addition to its Wilmington headquarters, PolyQuest has facilities in Darlington, South Carolina, and Farmingdale, New York, as well as a European office in Austria. 

Global machinery maker Liebherr Group has announced the appointment of Kai Friedrich as managing director of Newport News, Virginia-based Liebherr USA Co. Friedrich, who will officially assume his new role on August 1, will be taking over the role previously held by Peter Mayr. He also will serve as divisional director for construction equipment.

In his role as managing director, Friedrich, who has served in varying capacities with Liebherr Group for 17 years, will be asked to provide leadership and guidance necessary to oversee and implement the corporate and strategic plans for the nine product segments that are part of sales and service organization Liebherr USA.

The nine product segments include mobile and crawler cranes, tower cranes, construction equipment, components, concrete technology, refrigeration and freezing, mining, deep foundation machines and maritime cranes.

As divisional director for construction equipment, Friedrich will be responsible for managing the team of Liebherr sales, service, training and product management staff for the construction equipment product range.

“Kai Friedrich has a proven track record of leadership and many accomplishments with Liebherr over the years,” says Dr. Torben Reher, another managing director with Liebherr USA. “He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from several Liebherr companies in various international markets and will no doubt be a tremendous asset to the growth of our product segments here in the United States.”

Previous Liebherr positions held by Friedrich include posts in the Middle East and Africa region and as managing director of Liebherr-Export AG.

“I am looking forward to working with our experienced team and the well-established distribution network in supporting and engaging our customer base here in the U.S.,” says Friedrich. “It is a pleasure and honor for me to join the Liebherr USA team. Considering the potential, diversity and importance of the U.S. market for Liebherr, I’m thrilled to lead the team into this new, exciting period post-COVID-19.”