American Zinc Recycling Corp. announced that it has secured a new senior secured term loan credit facility provided by Blue Torch Finance LLC. “We are pleased to announce the completion of this transaction, which accomplishes a number of important objectives, including strengthening our liquidity, enhancing our financial flexibility and extending the duration of our debt,” remarked Steve Bishop, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of AZR. “This refinancing positions us exceptionally well to service our steel industry customers as we complete our transformation to a full-cycle, vertically integrated Zinc recycler with the ramp-up of our American Zinc Products (AZP) plant in Rutherford County, North Carolina. We emerge from this transaction in a robust commodity price environment with a strong hedging profile that eliminates nearly all of our commodity risk through 2022.”
The Blue Torch loan is secured by a first lien on all the assets of AZR and its subsidiaries and matures in 2024. The Company was advised on the transaction by Ducera Securities LLC and by Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. Blue Torch was advised on the transaction by Dechert LLP. “We are happy to have forged a strong relationship with Blue Torch and appreciate the confidence that they have shown in AZR,” commented Joel Hawthorne, President and CEO of American Zinc Recycling Corp. “This transaction comes at an exciting time for the Company as we recently announced the one-year anniversary of bringing AZP on-line. Today we are producing Specialty High Grade (SHG) zinc, providing a mission-critical service to our electric arc furnace customers by recycling a hazardous material in an environmentally friendly way and returning a highly valuable end-product to those same customers as well as many other end users. This financing provides us the runway to execute on our strategic vision and create tremendous value for our stakeholders.”