Recycling Companies

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by a searcher from University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School
in Dallas, TX, USA

5yrs ago

Recycling Companies

Thoughts on recycling companies as quality acquisition targets? Steel, aluminum, electronics, rare earth metals, magnets, etc.

Also curious about thoughts on different parts of the supply chain: collectors, smelters, re-casters, distributors, etc

1 Like

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reply by a searcher 5yrs ago
from INSEAD in Los Angeles, CA, USA

I looked at a plastics recycling firm. Growth potential was good, demand for the recycled material was also good (but to Goncalo's point exposed to commodity price), but the killer was the cash conversion. They needed a lot space to store the waste (so lot's of working capital) and the recycling machines were expensive and with huge energy bills. This would make scaling very expensive as you continuously have to spend money in new machines and working capital. As machines become energy efficient with time, the competitor with the newest machine will have the ability to undercut you on price.

reply by a searcher 5yrs ago
from Stanford University in Paris, France

I can speak to the steel and aluminum recycling side, which are both tough and competitive. You are a price taker on the sell side, and on the buy side (where incumbents used to have an information advantage), price transparency is impacting margins. I also second Mansour's last point re: machinery, which is not only getting more efficient but also cheaper, so there will always be the incremental small player who is able to pay more competing for inputs.