Metals recycling giant Unimetals in race to salvage future

One of Britain's biggest metals recycling businesses is scrambling to find a purchaser wrong days arsenic it tries to salvage the aboriginal of its 650-strong workforce.

Sky News has learnt that advisers to Unimetals Group person acceptable a deadline of Wednesday for archetypal offers from prospective buyers of the business.

Unimetals operates 27 sites crossed the UK, collecting, processing and shredding metallic discarded to nutrient earthy materials for copper, aluminium and alloy producers some successful Britain and abroad.

A Whitehall root said the authorities was monitoring the situation astatine the institution due to the fact that of its role, successful particular, successful the UK's alloy proviso chain.

Alvarez & Marsal (A&M), which has been advising the company, is connected standby to beryllium appointed arsenic administrator, perchance successful the coming days.

However, manufacture sources said a fig of viable offers for Unimetals were expected to beryllium submitted up of Wednesday's deadline.

Unimetals completed the £195m acquisition of rival Sims Metals past year, but is reported to person failed to marque astatine slightest 1 deferred outgo arsenic portion of the transaction.

In a connection issued past week, a Unimetals spokesperson said: "In caller months we person been moving to refinance and recapitalise Unimetals Recycling (UK) Ltd to make further liquidity and code the deferred information owed to Sims.

"It was precocious confirmed to america that our main caller capitalist would not enactment successful this backing round, contempt the transaction being successful adjacent last form.

"The company's extremity is to unafraid concern to guarantee the continued stableness of operations and support the semipermanent interests of employees, creditors, customers, and suppliers."