Renewcell continues to make headlines. After launching the first 100% textile-to-textile recycling plant for the production of regenerated circulose fibers in Kristinehamn, Sweden, in August 2022, the pioneering Swedish company announced its bankruptcy last November. But “We always knew the phoenix would rise from the ashes,” said Nicole Rycroft, executive director of the environmental nonprofit Canopy, which has been one of Renewcell’s biggest supporters.
And indeed. It is through Altor that Renewcell will continue to write the history of sustainable textiles. Swedish private equity firm Altor has taken ownership of the brand’s textile-to-textile recycling plant in Sundsvall and is now looking to create a new business strategy and build a new team for Renewcell. Or rather “Circulose”, the name of the existing branded recycled fiber, under which new owners plan to continue the activity.
“This acquisition marks a new chapter for Renewcell, now renamed Circulose,” Renewcell says on its website. “With Altor ownership, funding for Circulose’s future is assured, ensuring that the company’s pioneering cotton recycling technology continues to thrive globally.”
Who is Altor, the company behind the acquisition of Renewcell?
Altor Equity Partners is a private investment firm founded in 2003 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. The Company seeks to invest in companies operating in the consumer products, consumer services, commercial products, business services, healthcare, financial services, industrials and information technology sectors. . The company focuses its investments on the Nordic countries. To date, Altor has invested in nearly 100 companies as well as more than 300 add-on acquisitions. In total, more than 11 billion euros have been invested by leading European and American institutional investors in Altor, spread across six funds. These include high-quality institutions, university endowments, pension funds, charitable foundations and other leading international institutions.
The question that nevertheless remains is: what ultimately led Renewcell to file for bankruptcy?
“The fact that we didn’t have enough funds to continue, and after the board of directors had been looking for an investor since November. In the absence of a suitable investor, there was no other option,” said Tricia Carey, executive at RenewCell, in an exclusive interview with FashionDive. More precisely, what did they miss? “There was a lot of enthusiasm [pour Renewcell], and it was very exciting to be a part of it. Brands really wanted this product. We couldn’t supply enough product from the pilot line, and the fiber producers really wanted it, so they signed offtake agreements, and they had letters of intent. We continued to produce because we said to ourselves: “They want it, they want it”. Then we said, “Okay, they want it, but not as much as they said.” In some ways, one might ask ‘why did this company continue to produce if it did not sell its products’. That’s what we were doing because we had offtake deals that didn’t come to fruition for various reasons. The markets have been talking about prices and [dit] : “Oh, the price of circulosis is too high.” Isn’t the price of generic fiber just too low right now? So the comparisons aren’t even fair. How can we compare a brand new material to a fiber that has existed for 100 years and which represents a market of 5.6 million tonnes? This is not possible, it is not an apple to apple comparison,” explains the director.
