Metalico sale is final; CEO Aguero sells shares

Scrap processing firm Metalico Inc., Cranford, New Jersey, has been acquired by Total Merchant Ltd., a company controlled by Chung Sheng Huang, the chairman of the board and managing director of China-based secondary aluminum producer Ye Chiu Group.

Metalico’s board of directors had announced in June 2015 its acceptance of Total Merchant's all-cash offer of approximately $102 million, subject to the approval of its shareholders. At a meeting convened Sept. 11, 2015, the transaction was approved by share owners holding more than 92 percent of the shares voted, or 57 percent of Metalico’s outstanding shares.

Metalico's stockholders will receive 60 cents for each share of the company’s common stock they owned as of the closing. Metalico shares ceased trading on the New York Stock Exchange and were delisted effective the close of trading Sept. 11. “Stockholders will be contacted shortly by the company’s transfer agent with instructions on how to claim payment,” Metalico says in its news release announcing the closing of the sale to Total Merchant.

Before trading ceased Sept. 11, Metalico CEO Carlos E. Aguero sold more than 5.2 million shares of the company’s stock in a transaction reported on the FinancialWisdom.com website. The shares were sold at an average price of 60 cents, according to the website, for a total value of $3.1 million. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that can be found here.

Metalico says that under Total Merchant it “will continue to operate under its current management.” The news release prepared by the company also says it “expects that the relief from debt resulting from the sale and its strengthened balance sheet will reinvigorate Metalico as a prominent force in its markets and potential acquirer of other scrap operations.”

Company officials say the “new” Metalico is “looking forward to getting back to work as a preeminent scrap metal recycler with a focus on quality customer service.” The company operates ferrous and nonferrous facilities, including three auto shredders, in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, New Jersey and Mississippi.

Total Merchant describes itself as “a privately held investment vehicle formed to seek appropriate opportunities in the United States metals and commodities market.” Taicang City, China-based Ye Chiu Group, which like Total Merchant is led by Chung Sheng Huang, is a producer of aluminum and aluminum alloys and recycler of nonferrous metals with aluminum smelting facilities in China and Malaysia.

In 2002 Ye Chui established Alhambra, California-based America Metal Export Inc. to help it secure “continuous and stable” scrap supplies from the United States.