ETEK’s technology enables the treatment of a broad range of feedstocks, including waste electrical and electronic equipment (so called e-waste or WEEE), spent catalysts, batteries, photovoltaic panels, mining tailings and other metal-bearing industrial residues. The process supports the production of black copper and, through downstream integration, refined metals and ingots including copper, gold, silver, platinum and palladium.
Nextchem has acquired a 70 per cent stake in ETEK, gaining access to proprietary technologies for recycling precious and strategic metals from e-waste, batteries, catalysts and industrial residues.
The deal strengthens Nextchem’s circular solutions portfolio by adding advanced pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical capabilities for recovering copper, gold, silver and other critical metals.
Such technology has multiple references worldwide and is centered on TBRC (Top Blown Rotary Converter) furnaces designed to maximize recovery rates, ensure flexibility across heterogeneous feedstocks and improve energy efficiency.
The acquisition of ETEK’s know-how enables Nextchem to enrich its portfolio of circular solutions, expanding beyond its established technologies for mechanical and chemical recycling of plastics, including waste gasification processes to produce synthesis gas. ETEK’s proprietary platform strengthens NEXTCHEM’s footprint in strategic materials recovery, combining pyrometallurgical, hydrometallurgical and electrowinning processes to recover high-value metals from complex industrial and special waste streams. This broadens the Group’s offering for high-tech and industrial sectors, increasingly affected by the availability of critical raw materials.
The acquisition concerns a 70% stake in ETEK S.r.l. which fully owns its subsidiary SISEMTEK S.r.l., which manufactures TBRC furnaces and other key equipment supporting the industrial application of ETEK’s technology platform.
The Enterprise Value of 100% of the two companies is €17.5 million (~$20.1 million). The total consideration is €11.1 million, of which €5.0 million paid upfront – funded through existing facilities granted to Nextchem – and the remaining through a series of potential earn-outs linked to the company’s future performance through 2030.
Nextchem will integrate ETEK’s capabilities into its offering across the value chain, from feasibility studies and technology licensing to proprietary equipment supply, engineering support, commissioning and operational assistance for clients pursuing circular economy projects in metals recovery.
Fabio Fritelli, Managing Director of Nextchem, commented: “This acquisition represents another milestone in the evolution of NEXTCHEM’s circular solutions platform, built over time leveraging both internal know-how and strategic acquisitions. Spanning from rigid plastic upcycling to gasification of end-of-life streams and virgin-like chemical recycling solutions, we have progressively strengthened our ability to transform waste into value. With ETEK and SISEMTEK, we now add a proprietary platform for the recovery of strategic and precious metals from complex waste streams, further enhancing our resource recovery capabilities and opening new opportunities in critical raw materials for high-tech and industrial sectors.”
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ALCHEMPro News Desk (JP)
