Sims Metal acquires Northeast Metal Traders

Sims Metal, headquartered in Rye, New York, has announced plans to acquire the commercial and operating assets of Pennsylvania-based Northeast Metal Traders. According to Sims, the acquisition is expected to close in mid-April.

Northeast Metal Traders, a nonferrous scrap metal wholesaler and broker, operates a single-scale site in Philadelphia and has extensive supplier and end-consumer relationships across the eastern United States. The company was founded in 1993 by Mitchell Goldberg, Elliott Goldberg and Ron Greller and purchases and processes large volumes of all grades of nonferrous scrap metal and exports materials to customers around the world.

Sims says Northeast Metal Traders is one of the largest copper recyclers in the U.S., processing and selling about 60,000 tons of nonferrous metal per year.

Sims tells Recycling Today that Mitchell Goldberg, along with all other Northeast Metal Traders employees, will remain with Sims.

“The trading team and commercial team at Northeast Metal Traders is terrific,” says Steve Skurnac, chief development officer at Sims Ltd. “We’re increasing the number of people and professionalism on our copper trading team, so that’s a bonus for us.”

According to a news release from Sims, the acquisition will “substantially increase the copper volumes” in its metals business, as Northeast Metal Traders focuses predominantly on high-quality copper granulation. With demand for copper scrap growing, Sims says it will strengthen its exposure to the energy transition and decarbonization as well.

“Sims is probably the largest ferrous recycler on the East Coast, and we’ve got dozens of sites from Maine right down through Virginia," Skurnac says. "This is a terrific complement from a nonferrous point of view because the Northeast Metal Traders business is primarily copper, so this is a real boost to the Sims North America copper recycling business. Volume that comes through Northeast Metal Traders would be a very substantial increase to the volume Sims is currently doing on the copper side. It would basically double our copper volumes on the East Coast of the U.S.”

Mitchell Goldberg, co-founder of Northeast Metal Traders, says Sims had approached him and his team about acquiring Northeast Metal Traders a year and a half ago.

“The synergy between the two companies had the same type of business model,” Goldberg says. “We thought it would be a great way to continue to grow Northeast Metal Traders. ... It enhances our opportunity to grow the nonferrous business with their help and locations around the globe and educated people around the world.” 

He adds that all of Northeast Metal Traders' 65 to 90 employees will stay with Sims once the transaction is finalized.

“We have a bunch of talented, educated, hardworking people. I felt that it would be a great opportunity for everybody to join the Sims program,” Goldberg says. “Everyone is really excited about it. We’re going to continue to work hard for our consumers and suppliers.”

Sims says the transaction consideration implies an enterprise value/earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization multiple of 4.8x on a presynergies basis, including estimated working capital, and plans to fund the acquisition through recycling surplus and underperforming capital.

“We are very excited about this bolt-on acquisition and the opportunities it opens up for the Sims Metal North America business,” says Alistair Field, managing director and chief executive officer of Sims Ltd. “The Northeast brings commercial and operating synergies, as well as provides us with a significant and complementary footprint in Philadelphia.”