Recycled railroad tie maker IntegriCo gets new financing, management

Recycled railroad tie maker IntegriCo Composites Inc. is recapitalizing, making changes in the executive suite and entering new markets for pipeline skids and construction matting.

The Sarepta, La.-based company said in a Feb. 11 announcement that it was entering a “strategic expansion” after recapitalizing with affiliates of Purchase Capital LLC, an investment firm founded by the company’s new executive chairman, Nicholas Singer, and with Acadia Wood Partners LLC.

The company declined to provide details about the recapitalization or about any capacity expansion, but said the new products, like its railroad ties, are made with 100 percent recycled plastic.

“The expansion into new markets with strong growth potential builds on IntegriCo’s track record for manufacturing high performance rail industry products that have a positive environmental impact,” the firm said.

IntegriCo also named other new executives, with Daniel Lyons appointed vice president of corporate development, Scott Stewart as vice president of operations and Bryan Kelley as plant manager.

The firm said Singer would be responsible for day-to-day management as executive chairman.

“We’re excited about our leading position in new markets with substantial future growth opportunities,” Singer said.

According to IntegriCo’s website, Singer has a background in finance and investment.

In addition to founding Purchase Capital, he was a co-founder of Standard General, an investment advisor that managed over $1 billion of assets during his time there, from 2007 to 2013.

The company said Lyons is also the director of research at Purchase Capital.

IntegriCo said it targets markets where it can replace wood products with recycled plastic versions it says are more durable and perform better. For example, it said the plastic versions of pipeline skids and construction matting are more resistant to rot, insects and chemical damage.

In 2017, the company took on $7.5 million in new financing and said it was doubling its capacity to make at least 250,000 railroad ties a year, mostly made with post-consumer plastics numbered three through seven in the resin identification code.

Part of that 2017 expansion was financed with a loan from the Closed Loop Fund, an industry-financed social investment group designed to spur recycling.

The company said it has diverted over 80 million pounds of recycled plastic since it was formed in 2007, and said it sees opportunities to expand the use of hard-to-recycle grades of plastic since China sharply limited its imports in 2018.