Under the Wire

Peltz Group to Acquire Ideal Paper

The Peltz Group, Milwaukee, has reached an agreement to acquire Ideal Paper of California, a division of PacWest Fibers. Ideal Paper is located in Seal Beach, Calif., and is in the business of paper roll brokerage. Ideal Paper will continue to be run by Tom Curran, according to Peltz officials.

PacWest officials say that the transaction will enable the company to better focus its efforts on supplying 12,000 to 14,000 tons of old corrugated cardboard per month to the Simpson Tacoma Kraft mill, Tacoma, Wash., and to supply de-inking grades to Ponderosa of Washington’s new mill in Wallula, Wash. PacWest’s export activities will continue to be handled from the company’s Seattle office.

The Peltz Group is one of the largest privately-held recycling companies in the United States, operating five recycling plants and four sales offices.

California Port Labor Strife Intensifies

Labor problems at the Port of Los Angeles are creating problems for many scrap processors who ship out of the port. According to press reports, Hugo Neu Proler is battling with longshoremen at their port facility over the use of "ghost" employees. Hugo Neu was attempting to run its operation using management instead of union workers, resulting in a number of altercations between the two sides.

In addition, the West Coast-based International Longshoremen’s and Ware-housemen’s Union at southern California ports have been engaged in work slowdowns due to their dissatisfaction with a newly-signed contract. A spokesman for the Port of Long Beach says dockworkers in the California ports voted down the contract, while workers at ports north of California approved the contract.

DEFENSE SCRAP SALES TO SHIFT TO BATTLE CREEK

The Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service International Sales Office, Memphis, Tenn., is in the process of consolidating its sales offices into one location in Battle Creek, Mich. Sales of recyclables will begin out of Battle Creek beginning on March 3. This transfer of operations includes contract administration for all current and future sales, including term sales.

All correspondence and telephone calls regarding these sales should be made to the Battle Creek offices. The appropriate telephone numbers affecting each scrap sales area will be published in the next Invitation For Bids catalogs.

For more information, fax comments to (616) 961-4162, or visit the DRMS internet site at www.drms.dla.mil.

Prins "Apparent Winner" of NYC Bid

Prins Recycling, Newark, N.J., is the apparent winner of a bid put out by the city of New York to handle office paper collected by the city’s Sanitation Department. Official word on the project was expected after press time once oversight review is completed. The bid would be a boon to Prins’s operations, adding higher-value office paper to the low grade old news and old corrugated fiber the company has specialized in during the past several years.

The bid contract is slated to last five years, with various extensions allowing for the company to continue with the program for as long as 20 years. Paper collected would include all office paper generated in office buildings serviced by the city’s Sanitation Department.

Prins also recently completed an agreement with Recycling Specialists, Jersey City, N.J., to share processing arrangements at Prins’ Newark facility under a tolling arrangement.

Philip Environmental Closes Luntz, Alcan, Intsel Deals

Philip Environmental Inc., Hamilton, Ontario, has just closed four acquisitions involving two scrap metal processing companies, a steel distributor and an aluminum alloy plant. The scrap processors include Luntz Corp., based in Canton, Ohio, and with seven plants in Ohio and Michigan; and Allied Metals, one of Great Britain’s largest processors of ferrous scrap.

Philip Environmental also closed the deal for Intsel Southwest Partnership, Houston, which distributes structural steel products throughout the United States; and Alcan’s aluminum alloys plant in Guelph, Ontario. The foundry makes automotive castings from aluminum scrap.

In all, the four purchases are estimated to bring in an additional $650 million in combined revenue to Philip Environmental.