EMV Capital (AIM:EMVC), the AIM-listed deep tech and life sciences venture capital group, has acquired the Pryme One plastic waste chemical recycling plant in the port of Rotterdam through a newly formed subsidiary, Winalot BV.
Winalot bought the plant and related assets, including intellectual property, from Pryme for an undisclosed sum, funded entirely through third-party debt syndicated by EMV Capital Partners.
The plant cost more than €50 million to build and was completed in 2023, but ceased operations in March after problems with its reactor technology.
EMV Capital's portfolio company DeepTech Recycling has developed a proprietary reactor it believes can be retrofitted to restart the site, requiring roughly £6 million of additional capital expenditure and roughly 18 months, subject to funding and agreeing commercial terms.
The funding package comprises a 30-month term loan of about £1.7 million, extendable to £3 million, at 11% annual compounding interest with 25% warrant coverage, plus a six-month unsecured loan of about £0.3 million at 15% simple interest with 15% warrant coverage.
EMV Capital holds an 18% direct equity stake in DeepTech Recycling and manages a further 31% on behalf of third-party investors.
"This is an exciting opportunity to acquire an industrial-scale plastics recycling facility at a significant discount to its construction cost," said Ilian Iliev, chief executive of EMV Capital.
A successful retrofit would give DeepTech Recycling its first commercial-scale customer and a reference site within Rotterdam's Plant One industrial chemicals cluster.
Winalot's acquired assets will initially be recognised at book value of €2.1 million, adding roughly £2 million to EMV Capital's assets under management.
News Intelligence what this means for the company
EMV Capital has acquired a mothballed Rotterdam chemical recycling plant through a new subsidiary, Winalot, betting that its portfolio company DeepTech Recycling can retrofit the site with proprietary reactor technology. The plant cost over €50 million to build and shut in March due to reactor problems; restarting it will require roughly £6 million in additional capital and 18 months, contingent on funding and commercial terms. The acquisition itself was debt-funded, with Winalot's assets initially recognised at €2.1 million (roughly £2 million), a modest addition to EMV's assets under management.
This move expands EMV Capital beyond its core life-sciences mandate into industrial-scale plastics recycling, contingent on DeepTech Recycling's unproven retrofit succeeding and securing £6 million more capital. Success would give DeepTech its first commercial customer; failure leaves EMV holding a stranded asset acquired at a discount to construction cost but with no operating revenue.
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