Weekly News Bulletin: May 14-20, 2008

 

Steel Dynamics' OmniSource to Buy Recycle South LLC for $505 Million

Steel Dynamics Inc. subsidiary OmniSource Corp. will acquire Recycle South LLC, a large, regional scrap metal recycler in Spartanburg, S.C. for about $505 million. Under the terms of the transaction, OmniSource, which already owns about 25% of Recycle South, will pay $232 million in cash to Recycle South shareholders, who will also receive 3.938 million shares of Steel Dynamics common stock valued at $138 million. OmniSource will also assume certain liabilities, including net debt of about $135 million at closing. Recycle South, which employs approximately 600 people at 19 locations in the Carolinas and Georgia, was formed in August 2007 through the merger of Carolinas Recycling Group and Atlantic Scrap and Processing. Recycle South generated revenues of about $670 million from the processing of about 1.4 million tons of ferrous scrap and 150 million pounds of non-ferrous scrap over the 12-month period ending on March 31, 2008. OmniSource, which was acquired by Steel Dynamics in October 2007, processes scrap metal at 50 locations in the eastern United States and Canada...Read More »

 

 

Experts Hired to Rebuff Casella Landfill Expansion

It is a sign of growing hostility to landfills, especially in the northeast, that opponents of a landfill in Southbridge, MA, operated by Casella Waste, have hired experts to fight plans to import more waste. The group, which calls itself Southbridge Community Connections, hired experts in environmental health and justice. David O. Carpenter, professor at the Environmental Health and Toxicology Division at the University of Albany's School of Public Health in New York said biodegradable materials from municipal solid waste is "much worse" than construction waste. Environmental justice lawyer Veronica Eady, with New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, took issue with increased exhaust from diesel trucks which has been linked to asthma and heart disease...Read More »

 

 

Federal Probe in Connecticut Yields another Guilty Plea

There has been yet another guilty plea in the ongoing federal probe of pricing fixing in western Connecticut and eastern New York. This time, a former top salesman for Automated Waste Disposal, the company at the center of the investigation, named Richard Galietti admitted that he asked his state trooper cousin to check the ownership of cars thought to be federal surveillance vehicles. According to the indictment, Galante, Galietti and their co-defendants are accused of conspiring to set up a "property rights system" under which carters divide customers and agree not to compete in order to artificially inflate prices...Read More »

 

 

Waste Industries Completes Transaction to Go Private

Waste Industries USA announced that as of May 9, it has completed its previously announced transaction to go private. The transaction was led by an investor group consisting of founder and Chairman Lonnie C. Poole, Jr., President and CEO Jim W. Perry, and financial partners Macquarie Infrastructure Partners and Goldman Sachs. Shareholders approved the deal at a special meeting held on May 8...Read More »

 

 

BFI Canada Reports Strong First Quarter Results

BFI Canada said that bottom-up operational strategies and an intensified focus on growth opportunities helped increase first quarter revenues by 20.8% year over year. Even without the effects of currency translation, fuel and environmental surcharges, revenues increased by 13.3% in Canada and 6.2% in the U.S. Higher interest expense and other financial expenses led to a slight decline in earnings (Canadian $) to $8,776, or $0.15 per unit, from $10,365, or $0.19 per unit in the same period last year...Read More »

 

 

Virgin Islands Establishes E-Waste Collection

The U.S. Virgin Islands agreed to set up facilities for the collection of discarded consumer electronics products and other waste after being fined almost $37,200 for violations of the Environmental Protection Agency's hazardous waste rules. The EPA said its inspections found that computers and other waste were being discarded without efforts to minimize or prevent release of mercury, lead and other hazardous materials...Read More »

 

 

EnergySolutions Posts Revenue of $502 million in First Quarter

Nuclear waste services company EnergySolutions Inc reported profit for the first quarter of 2008, helped by higher revenues. Net income for the first quarter was $19.3 million or $0.22 per share, compared to a loss of $10.3 million in the prior year quarter. That exceeded analysts' expectations. Earnings would have been even higher ($23.8 million or $0.27 per share) without the impact of non-cash amortization of intangible assets. The company's revenues increased to $502 million from $114 million in the same quarter last year. For the year ahead, the company still expects earnings of $0.69 to $0.74 per share and earnings before the impact of non-cash amortization of intangible assets of $0.89 to $0.94 per share on revenue of $1.8 billion to $1.9 billion...Read More »

 

 

EnGlobe Revenues and Earnings Down

EnGlobe Corp., an environmental services company based in southern Ontario, reported that its first quarter loss more than doubled to $3.9 million, ($0.05) per share, from $1.9 million, ($0.02) per share. Revenues fell to $24.3 million from $26.8 million. The company has made acquisitions and appointed new management realign operations...Read More »

 

 

Avalon Holdings Reports First Quarter Loss

Waste management firm Avalon Holdings recorded a drop in first quarter revenues and profits. Revenues decreased to $10.4 million from $11.3 million in the first quarter of 2007. Profits declined to a net loss of $60,000, or a loss of $.02 per share, from net income of $352,000 or $.09 per share for the first quarter of 2007...Read More »

 

 

GreenMan Technologies Reports Second Quarter Results

Tire recycler GreenMan Technologies said that a recent acquisition helped increase revenues and volume but also added considerably to SG&A expense, resulting in a widened loss for the three months ended March 31...Read More »

 

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