Alter lined up to buy Milwaukee scrap dealer

US recycler Alter Trading is positioned to acquire Wisconsin-based United Milwaukee Scrap (UMS) via auction after UMS entered receivership as part of liquidation proceedings.

Court filings list BMO Harris Bank, Associated Bank, and Wells Fargo as seeking repayment from UMS, leading the company to liquidate its assets. UMS does not own any of the real estate it operates on.

Alter competed with 66 potential buyers during the marketing process for the auction. On 5 November, Alter signed an agreement to acquire UMS for $6.1mn, with a $500,000 deposit refundable at purchase.

Milwaukee county court will hold a sales procedures hearing to approve Alter's purchase agreement on 22 November.

The auction will take place on 3 December. If another company besides Alter buys the UMS assets at the auction, the purchase agreement calls for Alter to receive $750,000, plus the deposit amount.

UMS operates three facilities including one large volume shredder in Milwaukee, as well as one yard in Merrill, Wisconsin, and one south of Minneapolis.

Alter has expanded through acquisition twice in the last two years, purchasing Tenenbaum Recycling in Arkansas in August 2018, and Schneider's Iron and Metal in Michigan in June 2019.

By Will Ehrhardt