Wisconsin scrap recycler files for bankruptcy

Loeb-Lorman Metals Inc., Watertown, Wisconsin, has filed for bankruptcy protection, according to a report in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

The July 22, 2015, news article says the 101-year-old company, which employs 75 people, is now “in the hands of a court-appointed receiver.”

The company operates facilities in Watertown, Fort Atkinson and Reedsburg, Wisconsin; and Argo, Indiana.

The court-appointed receiver, an attorney named Ronald M. Carlson, says he will try to sell the company to a buyer who wants to retain it as an ongoing enterprise, but other options include selling off the plant and equipment. As of late July, the company’s plants remain open for business.

Another attorney, who represents members of the Loeb family, is quoted by the Journal-Sentinel as saying, “There are certainly discussions ongoing with potential purchasers.”

Loeb-Lorman recycles nonferrous and ferrous metals, but in its attorney’s discussion with the Milwaukee newspaper, he cited plummeting prices in the ferrous market as having been a foremost factor for the company’s current financial condition.