Plastics, Mergers & Acquisitions

Roth CH Acquisition to acquire PureCycle Technologies

Roth CH Acquisition, an acquisition company backed by Roth Capital Partners and Craig-Hallum Capital Group, has entered into an agreement to purchase PureCycle Technologies LLC, which is constructing a commercial-scale recycling facility in Ironton, Ohio.

According to an investor presentation from Roth CH Acquisition, the companies aim to complete the merger of PureCycle into Roth CH’s portfolio by the first quarter of 2021. After the transaction closes, a parent company of PureCycle will issue an initial public offering, or IPO. Upon closing, the created holding company will be renamed PureCycle Technologies Inc. and will be listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the new ticker symbol PCT.

PureCycle Technologies has a license to commercialize solvent-based recycling purification technology for restoring polypropylene (PP) scrap into what it says is virgin-like resin. The company’s recycling process was developed by Procter & Gamble and commercialized by PureCycle. The company says its “ultra-pure recycled polypropylene” (UPRP) has similar properties to virgin PP.

According to a statement from Roth CH Acquisition and PureCycle, strong interest and global awareness of Pure- Cycle has resulted in strategic investments and offtake agreements with companies including Aptar, BMW i Ventures, Closed Loop Partners, Wasson Enterprise, Glockner Enterprises, L’Oréal, Milliken & Co., Procter & Gamble, Ravago and Total.

PureCycle is building its first commercial-scale plant in Ironton, which is expected to have 107 million pounds of capacity per year when it’s fully operational. Production in Ironton is expected to start in late 2022, with full capacity expected to be achieved by 2023. PureCycle raised about $250 million in a tax-exempt municipal bond offering in October to fund the construction of its Ironton facility.

PureCycle says it plans to build new recycling production facilities globally, with the goal of having 30 commercial lines operational by 2030 and 50 by 2035. The company says it plans to announce its next location in Europe and to begin production in 2023 with a nameplate capacity of about 107 million pounds when fully operational. Expansion in the U.S. is expected to include five scaled-up commercial lines capable of producing more than 165 million pounds each of its UPRP. PureCycle says it expects that production from all sites will bring more than 1.2 billion pounds of annual recycled PP to the market in the next five years.