Elemental to Acquire Colt Recycling
Recently, Elemental, an international metals recycling company, has entered into an agreement to take over Colt Recycling, an e-scrap recycling and ITAD firm. This purchase comes shortly after Colt dramatically increased its e-scrap processing capacity throughout the eastern United States.
During a conversation with E-Scrap News, the leadership teams from Colt Refining and Colt Recycling outlined the impending transaction and how it would be advantageous for both firms going forward.
Based out of New England and owned jointly, the Colt family of companies consists of Colt Refining and Colt Recycling/Colt Recycling Southeast.
Specializing in electronics recycling and reuse, the company has shredding and separation lines located in Hudson, N.H. and in Hickory, N.C. All ITAD processes take place at sites in Merrimack, N.H., and Hickory houses a dedicated ITAD facility as well.
Based in Merrimack, the precious metals experts at Colt Refining specialize in extracting valuable elements from many scrap streams, including e-scrap.
On June 20th, Elemental announced that they had signed an agreement to buy 100% of both Colt Recycling and Colt Recycling Southeast. This move will establish Elemental’s first North American sites dedicated to ITAD operations and consumer electronics recycling. However, the existing owners will still maintain control over Colt Refining.
Although specifics of the deal remain private, it is expected that the completion of the agreement should be achieved in only a few weeks.
Numerous Equipment Upgrades
Speaking to E-Scrap News, Colt officials reported that the company had recently upgraded its Hickory and Hudson shredding and separation systems. The firm highlighted that the improvements were made with the goal of increasing efficiency and productivity.
At Colt, Senior Vice President, Jim Maher evaluated that the recycling centers gathered approximately 40 million pounds of material each year during the last few years. To improve these lines further, Colt decided to invest in renewing its shredding and sorting equipment. The Hickory line’s recommissioning was concluded in December of 2022 and the Hudson line was restarted three months later in March.
Due to the improvements, an annual 80 million pounds of material can now be recycled at the plants, Maher disclosed.
Following the completion of the acquisition by Elemental, Maher will step into a new position with the company while continuing to develop Colt Recycling. His vision involves further growth for the firm, including a larger facility size to accommodate the expansion.
Colt Refining’s CEO Breaks Down Acquisition Stipulations
Harvey Gottlieb, the owner, president and CEO of Colt Refining and Colt Recycling, announced that after the transaction he will retain his roles at Colt Refining. He sees his role as being less involved in daily operations, instead concentrating on ways in which to expand the refining business.
After 40 years of leading the company, Gottlieb announced that they had opted to sell Colt Recycling. The business had been in development for two decades, and according to Gottlieb, any further expansion would necessitate building new facilities. This aspect was something he was no longer prepared to do at his current stage in life.
Gottlieb stated that Colt had specific conditions for the sale, namely that a strategic buyer be involved instead of investment bankers, Maher would remain the head of the company after finalization of the acquisition, and that job opportunities would increase for the staff as the business expands.
“I think we found that buyer in Elemental, and that’s why we went ahead with it,” he stated.
Gottlieb commented that selling to Elemental provided its employees with, “a much greater opportunity in the long run.”
The decision was made to divide the ownership of Colt Recycling and Colt Refining, enabling them to continue trading material with each other as they have done previously. As Maher stated, “the fact of the matter is we’re really two distinct businesses with common ownership.”
A Growing Presence in North America
In another momentous move, Elemental Holding Group has taken a major step into the North American marketplace by closing this deal.
“This acquisition enables us to enter the e-waste recycling market in the U.S. and enter a very fast-growing ITAD segment,” Paweł Jarski, CEO of Elemental Holding, explained in the press release. “With this acquisition, we are expanding our geographic presence in the e-waste segment to the North American market.”
Elemental has an international presence, with businesses in North America, Europe and Asia primarily devoted to salvaging valuable metals from electronic waste, catalytic converters and batteries. Its U.S acquisitions have so far concentrated on recovering platinum group metals found in catalytic converters, specifically.
Beginning this year, Elemental also took over a controlling stake in Daniel Ball Converter Recycling and invested in PGM of Texas during 2019, followed by Maryland Core and Legend Smelting and Recycling in 2021.
In addition, the press release announced that as part of its expanding operations, Elemental has set its sights on collecting and reusing lithium-ion batteries.
“The use of Elemental’s existing waste collection network (almost 30 locations) covering a large part of the U.S. will allow for dynamic development of this activity,” the press release noted. “Elemental Holding Group will be in a leading position to obtain metals from three types of waste – spent automotive converters, e-waste and lithium-ion batteries.”
