The future of Fortum’s hydrometallurgical battery recycling and materials unit remains under review after the Finnish company announced on Thursday the sale of its municipal and industrial waste management and recycling business to investment firm Summa Equity for €800 million ($875 million).
It said after the divestment, Fortum will continue the strategic review of its remaining Circular Solutions’ businesses: battery recycling, turbine and generator services, plus ownerships in bio-based solutions and a UK-based waste-to-energy business. The net assets of these remaining businesses total some €90 million ($98 million).
It announced a review of Circular Solutions last August, saying it was not core to its new strategy. It expected the review to take a year.
Lithium-ion battery materials and recycling was launched some nine years ago as an R&D project. It has since grown into a company employing 100 people.
