Transformer recovery firm G&S Technologies Group acquired 12.45 percent of Hydrodec of North America for $1.7 million – raising its stake to 37.5 percent – per terms of an agreement reached in April 2013.
G&S provided $1.37 million in feed stock and $330,000 in cash. Upon completion of the purchase, Hydrodec retains 62.5 percent of the voting interest in the North American business.
The 2013 agreement also anticipated that Hydrodecs plant in Canton, Ohio, would be expanded by the construction of a seventh and eighth production train, according to an Oct. 17 Hydrodec news release. That agreement stipulated that the owners would share equally in financing the expansion, giving G&S the right to contribute an additional $1.7 million for a final 49.9 percent stake in Hydrodec of North America.
Hydrodec CEO Chris Ellis said in the news release in partnering with G&S, they are positioning themselves to take advantage of significant forecast growth in demand for the Canton plants rerefined transformer oil in the United States. We will now evaluate the most appropriate timing and location for the expansion program, Ellis added.
Hydrodecs partnership with transformer recovery firm G&S Technologies in April 2013 created Hydrodec of North America LLC as a new entity. Hydrodec licensed the joint venture rights to use its rerefining technology and to market transformer oils in North America under its Superfine brand in return for a five percent royalty on revenues generated by the business. G&S agreed to commit used transformer oil from its utility asset recovery service sufficient for expansion of Hydrodecs production capacity in the United States.
Family-owned and operated G&Ss main facility is in Kearny, New Jersey. It has additional facilities in Oregon, Alabama, Virginia and New York. G&S has recycled electrical transformers for more than 50 years. At the time of the 2013 agreement with Hydrodec, G&S said that most of its recovered transformers come filled with transformer oil.