UK agency approves EMR's purchase of five Sita sites

The United Kingdom’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has cleared European Metal Recycling's acquisition of five scrap metal recycling sites and certain assets of Sita Metal Recycling.

Following consultation, the OFT has decided not to refer the completed acquisition to the Competition Commission under the provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002.

The OFT began its study of the proposed acquisition of Sita UK’s metals recycling facility by EMR on Nov. 11, 2013.
EMR had initially announced the acquisition of the Sita facilities Sept. 20, 2013. The scrap metal locations are in Boreham (Essex); Norwich; Lenwade (Norfolk); Sheffield; and Coventry.

Sita had sought to sell off its metal recycling operations because of difficulties it had in generating profit from the division. When the company first announced plans to divest its metals recycling facility, it cited difficult trading conditions within the metals recycling market, which have persisted for several years. Trading conditions have been worsened by the decline nationally and globally in both demand and the pricing of metals within commodities markets. In addition to processing around 500,000 metric tons of scrap metal per year, the company also operated one 2,500 horsepower shredder.