Interseroh Takes Majority Stake in Two Recycling Firms

Interseroh has announced that it has taken a majority stake in two companies, both that target the nonferrous market. In the first deal, Interseroh Hansa Recycling acquired Europe Metals b.v., which is headquartered in the Netherlands. The Dutch company was established in 1990. Along with its headquarters, the company has three transshipment locations: one each in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. (To read a profile of Interseroh from the May 2007 issue of Recycling Today click here) 

Interseroh Hansa Recycling also taken a majority position with Europe Metals Asia Ltd., based in Hong Kong.

The addition of the two companies will boost the amount of nonferrous handled by Interseroh Hansa Recycling by around 120,000 metric tons. Both deals are subject to the approval of the anti-trust authorities.

"The two Europe Metals companies will distinctly strengthen the Interseroh position in the international non-ferrous metal scrap trade. By taking over the majority shareholdings we close the added-value chain through a direct access to the end consumers right into the market of eastern Asia", said Christian Rubach, Interseroh director responsible for steel and metal recycling. The aim of the new holdings was to further increase the quantity of internationally marketed non-ferrous metals through access to the existing Interseroh trading platform.

Following the acquisitions of several steel scrap companies in the first half of the year, buying in these locations was a further important building block in the Interseroh growth strategy, explained Johannes-Jürgen Albus, the CEO of Interseroh AG. "Interseroh is actively involved in the process of concentration and consolidation in the steel and metal recycling industry."

Interseroh operates around 50 processing and trading locations for steel and metal recycling segment of the Group. Previous to the acquisition of these two companies Interseroh’s recycling division was processing around 3.3 million metric tons of steel and metal scrap in 2006, making it one of the top three German steel scrap recycling enterprises.