Radius Recycling, formerly Schnitzer Steel, was acquired this week by a Japanese auto conglomerate.
A once-dominant steel recycling company headquartered in Portland has sold to a Japanese auto conglomerate for $1.34 billion after losing a quarter billion in 2024.
Radius Recycling, formerly known as Schnitzer Steel, reached a deal last week with the Toyota Group to sell the Oregon company for $30 per share in cash, a 115% premium on the company’s stock price, the Oregonian reports. Under the deal, an American subsidiary of Toyota Tsosho Group will operate the industrial metals recycler.
The sale will allow Radius to expand operations, improve metal recovery processes and enhance its sustainability operations, according to investor materials.
Toyota has stated it hopes to expand further in the U.S. recycling sector as well as strengthen its supply chain for sustainable metal production, according to ThomasNet.
The companies plan to close the deal in the second half of the year pending approval by shareholders and regulators.
“TTC is a proven leader in metals and automotive recycling services and solutions, and we look forward to enhancing and expanding our offerings as part of their larger organization,” Radius CEO Tamara Lundgren writes in Radius’ announcement of the deal.
Radius intends the company to continue to operate from its current Portland headquarters with all staff, facilities and brands retained, according to a statement. It also plans to keep all collective bargaining agreements currently in place.
Radius was founded as Alaska Junk Co. in 1906 by Russian immigrant Sam Schnitzer. His son, Harold, would succeed him after earning a degree in metallurgy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, though the younger Schnitzer would soon transition to real estate development.
The company went public in 1993 with an initial public offering after purchasing metal recycling facilities in Oregon and California. Ten years later, it acquired the Pick-N-Pull chain of automobile dismantling yards for $85 million. In 2023, Schnitzer Steel rebranded as Radius Recycling, to “better reflect its role in the circular economy,” according to its announcement. The same year it relocated its headquarters to the third and fourth floor of the KOIN Center in downtown Portland.
But in 2024, Radius lost $266 million with $2.7 billion in sales. It blamed the performance on a weak domestic metals market and a downturn in manufacturing in the U.S. Radius’ share price declined from a high of $50 in 2023 to $13.66 last week. Radius today employs more than 3,000 people and is the second largest metal recovery company in the world. It oversees more than 100 operating sites in 25 states and 50 recycling facilities around the world including a steel mill in McMinnville.
Members of the Schnitzer family have been prominent donors to charitable and artistic causes in Oregon though they haven’t held a controlling stake in the company since 2010.
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