German investment firm Aurelius Equity has sold the PET plastic bottle recycler Evolve Polymers to US packaging firm Plastipak Group in a deal announced today (3 November).
The two parties have not revealed the financial details of the transaction.
The Hemswell plastic bottle facility is among the largest of its kind in Europe
Lincolnshire-based Evolve Polymers had previously traded as ECOPlastics Recycling Ltd – having emerged from the bottle sorting and recycling firm Eco Plastics, which went into pre-pack administration in December 2014.
ECOPlastics Recycling was formed after the predecessor company was bought by German investment firm Aurelius.
Evolve operates a flagship 150,000 tonnes per year bottle recycling facility which has the capacity to produce up to 50,000 tonnes per year of rPET flake and food grade pellets for supply to the market.
Plastipak
Plastipak is a major supplier of PET and HDPE products based in Plymouth, Michigan, operating in markets including food, cleaning and cosmetics-product packaging and automotive products.
The company also operates a number of manufacturing sites across Europe, in Belgium, Germany, France and in the UK at Gresford near Wrexham, which it acquired following the takeover of PET manufacturer APPE in 2015.
Martin Hargreaves, managing director of Plastipak Europe, said: “Evolve’s prior owners invested significant resources to build the Hemswell Cliff site starting in 2006, and the business’s performance benefited from continuous improvements.
“We currently operate plastic recycling operations in the U.S. through our Clean Tech subsidiary, and in France and Luxembourg for our European customers. This acquisition complements our existing recycling businesses, and amplifies our ability to bring our world-class technologies and know-how to better serve our UK and European-based customers.”
In a statement, Aurelius Groups said it would concentrate its activities in plastics recycling through Regain Polymers – which it acquired in July 2015 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Announcing the deal, the investment firm said: “Aurelius Equity Opportunities SE & Co. is selling its Evolve Polymers subsidiary based in Hemswell, UK, to Plastipak Packaging, Inc. Operating out of Plymouth, USA, the Plastipak Group is a leading global producer of packaging, manufacturing products out of PET and HDPE in several state-of-the-art facilities in Europe, the United States, South America, and Asia. Plastipak also operates in the virgin and recycled resin segments in Europe and the US. The two parties have agreed not to reveal the financial details of the transaction.”
Related Links
The post US plastics firm moves in for Evolve Polymers appeared first on letsrecycle.com.