Sims Metal Management announces sale of select US scrap recycling facilities

By Paul Ploumis (ScrapMonster Author)

August 16, 2016 07:58:22 AM

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster):Sims Metal Management (SMM) has announced sale of some of its scrap recycling operations in the US Central region to Steel Dynamics, Inc (SDI). The sale is related to select SMM metal recycling facilities located in Tennessee and Mississippi. The company press release further states that the sale is effective August 12th.

According to SMM official website, the company has only one scrap recycling facility in Tennessee, which is located in Memphis. The company has five facilities in Mississippi located in Bryam, Elliott, Greenville, Greenwood and Sherman. The Memphis, Tennessee and Greenville, Mississippi facilities also have attached auto shredding facilities.

Galdino Claro, SMM’s group CEO stated that the sale of scrap recycling facilities in the Central North American region is part of the company’s strategy to divest non-core assets and reallocate the capital to core business operations. He noted that the above divestment will help the management to focus on its core operations. He expressed confidence that SDI will continue to deliver best services to its and suppliers customers in the region for years to come. He also thanked the employees at these facilities for their hardwork throughout these years and hoped that they will continue to enjoy similar work environment under the new owner.

Meantime, Russell Rinn, executive vice president of Metals Recycling for SDI welcomed all 90 employees to the SDI family. He noted that the new acquired facilities would help SDI to make a big step forward in achieving greater raw-material self-sufficiency in the region. The geographical location of acquired assets in Tennessee and Mississippi looks ideal to support the operations at SDI’s Columbus Flat Roll Division, Rinn added.

According to SDI, the acquisition of SMM assets follows the successful acquisition of Birmingham, Alabama-based Vulcan Threaded Products, Inc. during early-August this year.

Earlier during the year, SMM had noted that scrap metal volumes by the company had recorded significant decline during 2015. The volumes fell by nearly 30% year-on-year. The dull market conditions had led to 15% cut in their workforce. The company had cited plunging commodity prices as the key reason for drop in scrap trade volumes. Also, there seems to be no pickup in scrap metal demand from world countries, especially from China-the main scrap metal consumer in the world.

About Sims Metal Management

Sims Metal Management is one of the world's largest metal recyclers with over 200 facilities, operations in 20 countries, and over 4,900 employees globally. It is the leading metals and electronics recycling company in the world. The company specializes in ferrous and non-ferrous metals recycling, post-consumer electronic goods recycling, and municipal waste recycling. Its primary operations are located in the United States, Australia, and the UK. SMM's core businesses are metal recycling and electronics recycling, with 55% of its revenue from operations in North America.

About Steel Dynamics Inc,

SDI is one of the largest domestic steel producers and metals recyclers in the United States. The company operates six electric arc furnace steel mills, 10 steel coating lines, an iron production facility, eight steel fabrication plants and about 75 metals recycling locations operated through OmniSource, its wholly owned subsidiary.