Scholz US buys out minority shareholders of Liberty Iron & Metal Holdings

Liberty Iron & Metal Holdings LLC, a scrap metal recycling company headquartered in Phoenix, has announced that Scholz United States Inc., its majority shareholder, has acquired the remaining interest from the company’s minority shareholder, the Diamond family. With the buyout, Scholz Group is now the sole shareholder of Liberty Iron & Metal and has full control over all operations.

“This is an exciting time for the new Liberty Iron & Metal, its employees, customers and partners,” says Mike Diamond, chief operating officer of Liberty Iron & Metal. “The strategic alliance with Scholz allows us to retain the best top-level scrap professionals in the industry in order to continue working with all of our customers, suppliers and vendors and positions us to leverage our expertise with the resources afford from the international presence of Scholz.”

With the Diamond's sale of the minority stake, Liberty Iron & Metal says it will be able to strengthen the company financially and grow its business.

“The new Liberty Iron & Metal is one of the leading metal recycling and processing facilities in the East and Southwest, with significant scale, diverse service capabilities and a strong customer base,” says Mike Greulich, CEO of Scholz United States. “We look forward to supporting Liberty Iron & Metal to continue to grow the business in a new set-up with greater access to the financial strength and resources available at Scholz.”

Liberty Iron & Metal was formed in 2007 when the German company Scholz Group, Liberty and four affiliates created the joint venture, Liberty Iron & Metal Holdings LLC. The joint venture eventually grew to include scrap metal operations in Ohio, Pennsylvania and a position with a company in Mexico.

Liberty Iron & Metal includes Premier Metals in Rochester, New York; Diamond Hurwitz in Buffalo, New York; Liberty Iron in Erie, Pennsylvania; Mercer Corp., Sharon, Pennsylvania.; Interstate Shredding, Girard, Ohio; Liberty Iron & Metal Southwest in Phoenix; and We Buy Scrap, located in Arizona and in Kalischatarra, Mexico.

The buyout of the Diamond family follows a number of moves taken by Scholz over the past several months to consolidate ownership. In early October, Liberty Iron acquired the 30 percent stake that Rush Metal Asset Holdings LLC had in in Liberty Southwest Holdings.

While Rush sold off its stake, Liberty Iron says the company will continue to be a strong business partner and senior advisor.

Also in October, the Scholz Group acquired the Olgin family’s stake in Liberty Iron & Metal.