S Norton & Co., one of the UK's leading ferrous and non-ferrous metal recyclers has announced the purchase as of 20 June 2018 of the entire share capital of Axion Recycling Ltd from the five individual, private investors who have owned Axion since 2006.
As a result, Axion Recycling Ltd and the business units trading as Axion Polymers and Axion Consulting are now a wholly owned subsidiary of the S Norton group.
Two of these private investors, Keith Freegard and Roger Morton founded Axion Recycling in 2001. S Norton took a majority stake in the company in 2006, in a bid by the metals recycler at that time to expand its recycling services to meet the requirements of producers of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).
In the announcement, the companies further stated that on that same date, Keith Freegard resigned from his position on the board as marketing director and terminated his full-time employment with Axion.
He will continue working on key projects and areas under a part-time consultancy agreement for the next 12 months, and although ‘happy to maintain an active link with the team at Axion', he is also going to be looking at possible ‘new opportunities' in the waste recycling sector, he said.
Roger Morton will continue as director with Axion. His role will not change. No other changes will be made in either staff or the way that business is carried out, it was emphasised. The company will trade under the same name and all commercial transactions will continue in the same manner as before.
The change of ownership, said S Norton chairman John Norton, both strengthens the existing relationship and ‘clarifies and consolidates the working arrangements between S Norton and the Axion sites'.