Gurit acquires Valplastic PET recycling operation

Gurit (Wattwil, Switzerland) reports that its branch Gurit Italy PET Recycling S.r.l. has signed an agreement to acquire PET recycling production facilities from Valplastic S.r.l. (Padova, Italy), for an undisclosed purchase price. Closing of the transaction is expected at the end of May, subject to closing conditions being met.

Valplastic specializes in the recycling of PET bottles and the production of recycled PET flakes and granules later used for extrusion of recycled PET core, which Gurit produces for customers for wind energy and other applications. As part of the asset purchase agreement, Gurit acquires production equipment, working capital and Valplastic’s current staff of approximately 30 full-time staff.

The transaction will allow Gurit to secure quality and cost-effective raw material supplies for its PET strategy and to link value chain elements starting from the recycled bottle down to a finished quality core kit for the manufacture of wind blades. Gurit will manage all operations under the Gurit brand name and will not acquire the Valplastic brand.

Gurit plans on continued investment into recycled PET core material production assets globally, for both wind and non-wind industry customers. Gurit says it needs access to this part of the supply chain in order to have sufficient feedstock of quality-controlled and properly blended PET for the extrusion process.

“With this transaction, Gurit can connect the value chain from purchased recycled bottles out of the collection network down to a precision core kit for the global wind OEMs. It allows Gurit to secure feedstock, quality of product through content control and strong cost competitiveness. We welcome the team in Carmignano to Gurit and look forward working all together to grow the recycled PET business as a sustainable product to serve the global wind energy industry on its important mission” says Rudolf Hadorn, CEO of Gurit Group.