Recycling Firm Aurelius Takes Over Regain Polymers
Aurelius, an investment group based out of Germany, has purchased the plastic recycling company Regain Polymers, with the financials of the deal remaining undisclosed. Regain Polymers is one of the world’s leading recycling businesses in rigid post-use plastics.
The recycling company launched in 1991 and since then has been operating from its headquarters in Allerton Bywater, near Castleford in Yorkshire, UK. In 2014 the company had 100 employees and a total turnover of £31 million.
The acquisition of the business by Aurelius came after the company had also recently acquired struggling recycling firm ECO. Regain Polymers itself had already been taken over back in 2011 by a private equity firm called Chamonix.
Acquisition set to Address the Growing Demand for Recycled Plastic Content
The specialty of the business Regain Polymers is the recycling of rigid plastic content as per customer requirements from industries such as packaging, construction, environment, and horticulture. The company recycles such plastics as Talc-Filled Polypropylene (PPT), High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Polystyrene (PS), Polymers, and Polypropylene (PP).
Their present compounding capacity is around 46,000MT per annum across seven extrusion lines. The company currently operates two wash plants, along with a material preparation facility which has an additional capacity of 28,000MT per annum. The wash plants enable the business to remove contaminants such as paper, dirt, and metal before reprocessing commences.
Tristan Nagler the Managing Director of Aurelius said, that over the years Regain Polymers has successfully delivered cost-effective and more complex recycling solutions to meet its client’s evolving needs. He also added that Aurelius expects the alliance to prove advantageous for both parties and that the joining of the companies together will put them in a leading market position in the recycled plastic content market. Finally, Nagler mentioned that it will be easier for the company to meet the ever-increasing demand for recycled plastic content from brand owners, retailers, and automotive OEMs who want to bring down the carbon footprints of their packaging and products.
Plastics Recyclers – The new must-have for Private Equity Firms
Companies that create recycled plastics have become very popular recently with many private equity firms buying them at an unprecedented rate. There are several reasons for this trend.
The worldwide prices of oil have been rising which has a knock-on effect on the cost of producing virgin plastic, making recycled plastic much cheaper and in demand than ever before. Also, China, which for many years has been the biggest market for recycled plastic, has recently implemented restrictions on the importing of waste which has created a new market for recycled plastic, as buyers are looking for new markets for their plastic waste.
The biggest change in the demand for recycled material and recycled plastic packaging is from the consumer who is becoming much more eco-friendly in their purchasing habits and prefers to purchase items from companies that show a lower environmental impact. This change in buying habits includes consumers being much more aware of the use of carrier bags, bottle caps, plastic packaging materials, and the fossil fuels used to transport them. In addition to this, the recycling rate of post-consumer plastic packaging products has increased massively year on year in recent times.
Businesses that operate in turning plastic waste into recycled content are therefore seen as highly profitable investments by private equity firms and this is likely to be the case for the foreseeable future.
Who is Aurelius?
Aurelius is a private equity firm that specializes in several areas including plastic recycling company acquisitions. The company was founded in 2006 by Jens Tinschert and is headquartered in Germany.
The company’s goal is to create long-term value for its investors through active ownership and operational movements.
Aurelius has a strong focus on plastic recycling and has recently made investments in companies such as Plastic Energy and Plastic Omnium. In addition to plastic recycling, the company also has a significant presence in other industries such as automotive, healthcare, consumer goods, and plastic packaging.
Recycled Plastic – The Facts
Plastic recycling is the process of recovering waste plastics and reprocessing them into usable products. The recycling process often creates a product that was completely different from its original unprocessed usage.
For plastic to be recycled a specialist company needs to sort the waste product into different polymers, and then needs to melt or cut it down to make a new plastic product. New products that are created by plastic recyclers include containers, toys, car accessories, mobile phones, bottles, garden furniture, and items for the manufacturing industry.
There are lots of reasons why plastic should be and is encouraged to be recycled in modern times. Recently there has been a huge increase in population awareness of the effect of plastic waste on the natural environment and a reduction in the so-called throwaway culture because of this. There has been a huge increase in recycling centres and how much plastic is used in society too.
Waste plastic that is not recycled only fills up landfill sites but also increases the level of plastic pollution. It also takes less energy to recycle plastic than it does to create new plastic products, which has been one of the main reasons for the growth in plastic waste recycling management companies.
The recycling process also reduces the need for mining and drilling the raw materials needed to create new plastic products and in turn saves resources, such as oil, which is used in the production process of most plastics.
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