Expansion drive at Interseroh

German raw materials supplier Interseroh has increased its stake in Polish scrap recycler TOM Sp to 70%. The joint venture company operates 10 sites in Poland and handles around 350 000 tonnes of ferrous and non-ferrous metals per annum. The company is also involved in international steel trading.
’Acquiring a majority in TOM is an important step in Interseroh’s international growth strategy,’€™ says comments CEO Johannes-Jürgen Albus. ‘€˜TOM has the necessary international orientation and supplies scrap to the Central and Southern European markets as well as to the Far East. We also aim for further expansion in the Baltic Sea region. In addition, we plan to solidify our regional presence in Germany and are actively involved in the current process of concentration and consolidation in the steel recycling market.’€™
Overall responsibility for the Polish company will be transferred to the group’€™s Interseroh Hansa Recycling arm while TOM’€™s Managing Director Jaromir Zandecki stays in his post.
In related news, Interseroh has acquired three German steel recycling companies in Central Germany and the Rhineland area, namely: Wagner Rohstoffe, Frankfurt; Müller Rohstoffe, Gelnhausen; and Wagner Rohstoffe GmbH, Frankfurt Combined, these three German plants annually process around 200 000 tonnes of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap. In addition, Interseroh, recently acquired RuP Rohstoffhandelsgesellschaft in Düsseldorf.
Founded in 1991, Cologne-based Interseroh AG operates some 70 scrap yards and boasts a total workforce of around 1400. One of Europe’€™s leading secondary metals companies, Interseroh’€™s activities include the recycling of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, recovered paper, plastics and wood. In 2005, the company handled more than 5 million tonnes of secondary raw materials, of which ferrous and non-ferrous scrap accounted for 3.3 million tonnes. Its turnover totalled almost Euro 1 billion (US$ 1.3 billion).