AMG acquires Strauss Industries

Pittsburgh-based AMG Resources Corp. has acquired the business of Strauss Industries Inc., which AMG calls the largest and oldest scrap metal recycler in West Virginia.

Strauss Industries operates facilities in Weirton, Benwood and Wheeling, West Virginia, plus another in West Alexander, Pennsylvania, through its subsidiaries Automatic Recycling Inc., Herman Strauss Inc. and Strauss Automotive.

AMG describes Strauss’ collective operations as including “a proprietary nuggetizer that produces the industry’s highest quality” coolant scrap, aluminum deox and other specialty scrap grades; the largest auto shredding facility in West Virginia (Automatic Recycling); a barge-loading facility on the Ohio River from which scrap is shipped to downriver markets; shearing, baling and torching operations and; a self-service recycled auto parts retail business (Straus Automotive).

“Strauss’s existing businesses will be a great complement to AMG Resources given our focus on producing high-quality, known-chemistry scrap products and our strong existing presence in the Ohio Valley market,” says Eric Goldstein, president of AMG Resources. “Strauss’s barge-loading capabilities will also provide greater opportunities for AMG Resources to supply customers via the river and will supplement our sizeable private railcar fleet.”

 AMG Resources and its affiliates operate 20 scrap processing facilities and 17 commercial offices in the United States, in addition to operations in Europe. The company says it has “a particularly strong footprint” in the Ohio Valley region, with nine ferrous and nonferrous scrap-processing operations in western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and northern West Virginia.

 The transaction marks the second auto shredding plant changing hands this week, following an earlier announcement by Sims Metal that it has acquired Atlantic Recycling Group, which operates a shredder in Baltimore.

This year has seen numerous auto shredders change hands beyond the two this week, including acquisitions by Cincinnati-based David J. Joseph Co.; the sale of PSC Metals to California-based SA Recycling; and the purchase of Detroit-based Ferrous Processing & Trading (FPT) by steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs.