Bolder Industries receives equity fund investment

Tiger Infrastructure Partners, a private equity firm with offices in New York and London, has announced what it calls “a transformational growth investment” in tire recycling technology company Bolder Industries, based in Boulder, Colorado.

Bolder has an existing operating facility in Maryville, Missouri, that has commercialized its proprietary process for transforming end-of-life tires into recovered carbon black, an essential raw material in tires, rubber and plastics for which Tiger says demand is growing globally.

Bolder also is building a second facility in Terre Haute, Indiana, designed to scale up its production, and has a third facility under development in Antwerp, Belgium. According to its new investor, Bolder also has plans to develop additional sites after Terre Haute and Antwerp.

“As an innovator in the production of recovered carbon black and pyrolysis oil, we believe that Bolder is in a prime position to capitalize on growing demand for validated, cost-effective circular economy products from end-of-life tires,” says Emil W. Henry Jr., CEO and chief investment officer of Tiger Infrastructure.

The company’s facilities produce BolderBlack products, designed to “help some of the largest brands in the world increase their use of sustainable materials." Bolder’s recycled-content product line can be found in products including tires, wetsuits, roofing products, belts, hoses, construction piping, phone cases and auto parts.

Also produced by Bolder’s technology is pyrolysis oil branded as BolderOil, which has applications in renewable fuels, carbon black oil, process oils, solvents and petrochemicals.

Tiger Infrastructure says it is partnering with Bolder to provide growth capital to enable the buildout of new facilities, saying Bolder is “primed to capitalize on growing demand for validated, cost-effective circular economy products from end-of-life tires.”

“We are thrilled to partner with Tiger Infrastructure in our next phase of growth,” Bolder founder and CEO Tony Wibbeler says. “Tiger Infrastructure is our partner of choice because they were a first mover in growth infrastructure and possess a successful track record in scaling infrastructure platforms like ours. Further, they have a valuable operating partner network and a unique trans-Atlantic footprint that can help us grow our current and planned asset base in both the United States and Europe.”

“We have been impressed by Tony Wibbeler and his team," Tiger Managing Director Joe Clemente adds. "They are among the leaders in this emerging sector, where there are very few players with the expertise and track record in developing these essential infrastructure projects.”

According to the Switzerland-based World Business Council for Sustainable Development, more than 1 billion end-of-life tires are generated annually.

Bolder has secured patents relating to its technology and both feedstock supply and product offtake at its facilities and, according to Tiger Infrastructure, each of the new locations in Indiana and Belgium are designed to recycle more than 4 million end-of-life tires annually.

Latham & Watkins LLP and King & Spalding served as legal advisors in the transaction and Greenhill, an affiliate of Japan-based Mizuho, served as financial advisor to Bolder.