Interseroh, ProTrade Ink Deal

Move will give German company access to U.S. market.

Interseroh AG, based in Cologne, Germany, has signed a strategic alliance with ProTrade Steel Co. Ltd., which is based in Hudson, Ohio.

The agreement will give Interseroh access to the U.S. steel scrap market. For the companies of ProTrade Steel, under the umbrella of The ProTrade Group LLC, the cooperative arrangement implies a possible strengthening of its own financial capacity for further development of its domestic activities, a basis for international trading, as well as a transfer of knowledge in the fields of production, technology and environment.

ProTrade Steel Co. was established in 1994 and has annual revenue of around $250 million.

The alliance will offer Interseroh an option to acquire a share of the group. ProTrade has oriented its activities towards a new direction within the last few years: Steel and metal scrap trading has been expanded by several production sites for processing activities.

The ProTrade Group LLC includes an e-scrap shredding plant in Florida and two Midwest ferrous shredder sites, as well as five trading offices along the East Coast and in the Midwest.

"For Interseroh, the strategic alliance renders possible access to the U.S. scrap market. In view of the importance of that market, you often have trend-setting decisions for the market itself and for the pricing in the field of steel and metal scrap", as Johannes-Jürgen Albus, Interseroh's CEO, explained.

Christian Rubach, an Interseroh board member, noted, "For us and above all, ProTrade Steel's trading competence reflects an important aspect of this cooperation. Interseroh has to and will further pursue internationalization."

Jack Kessick, CEO of ProTrade Steel, noted many of the advantages to the alliance. "We are able to benefit from this leading European company. We value highly German expertise, above all in the fields of production, operation and protection of the environment, in order to further optimize our processes and to operate them in an ecologically sound way. We respect Interseroh’s commitment to growth in the recycling industry worldwide, and we are excited to begin our business relationship."

Interseroh manages a network including more than 40 steel and metals recycling sites, primarily in Germany and Poland. Last year Interseroh handled around 3 million tons of steel and metal scrap; this year the company hopes to grow that number to between 3.5 to 4 million tons.