Houlihan Lokey Advises Metallo

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Metallo, a portfolio company of Towerbrook Capital Partners, has been acquired by Aurubis. The transaction closed on 29 May 2020.

Founded in 1919, Metallo is a specialised global, market-leading recycler of nonferrous metals, refining scrap materials into high-quality metals, metal products, and minerals. Driven by its unique proprietary technology and production process, along with its “Furnace of Innovation,” Metallo refines low-grade and highly complex scrap materials, allowing it to serve a global customer base from its production sites based in Belgium and Spain. Metallo processes more than 350,000 tons of secondary raw materials annually, from which metals and metal products are recuperated. These metals are returned into the value chain as refined copper, tin, lead, and as products such as nickel sulphate solutions, zinc oxides, metal sludge, and minerals.

Aurubis, a Germany-based provider of nonferrous metals, is Europe’s largest integrated copper producer and the largest refiner of copper scrap worldwide. The company processes copper concentrates and scrap, producing copper cathodes and various byproducts of the copper-refining process. Additionally, Aurubis supplies copper shapes and semi-finished copper as well as copper alloy products. Both Aurubis and Metallo are major purchasers of copper scrap generated in the EEA region. The acquisition of Metallo will strengthen Aurubis' metal portfolio—especially in copper, nickel, tin, zinc, and lead—and enable the company to strengthen its process capabilities of complex scrap materials. Additionally, the acquisition will allow Aurubis to grow its sustainability footprint through Metallo’s unique zero-waste business model.

Towerbrook Capital Partners is an investment management firm headquartered in both London and New York City that seeks to invest in large and middle-market companies, principally on a proprietary basis and often in situations characterised by complexity. The firm invests through different funds that allow it to access a range of opportunities through the cycle and across the capital structure.

Houlihan Lokey served as the financial advisor to Towerbrook Capital Partners and assisted in initiating, structuring, and negotiating the transaction on its behalf. Houlihan Lokey conducted a targeted sale process, approaching a selective group of the most likely buyers across three continents. This transaction represents Houlihan Lokey’s continued success as an advisor to the metals and mining sector and its unique intersection with environmental services and technologies.