Dirty plastics usually end up in incinerators and landfills, but only the luckier ones turn into trash cans. But the firm from Nelahozevsi can do more.

What people normally perceive as waste is being turned into plastic gold. And if one can judge by investments, they will not be far from the truth. Within five years, the Czech firm ETW of the Loud brothers managed to build a company that attracted the interest of the American company, investor Michal Dědek and also the investment group Prime Fund, which bought part of his stake from Dědek for tens of millions of crowns. More millions are to go in the coming years for both development and expansion.

The parties chose not to comment on the exact value of the transaction. Michal Dědek retains part of his original stake in ETW, and together with Prime Fund they have a decisive 54 percent in the company. According to the company, the value of ETW currently reaches more than hundreds of millions of crowns. After all, for the last time last February, the grandfather took part of the business cupped, for 30 million he gained three percent.

“We are pleased that, after almost two years of negotiations, we have been able to complete the sale of part of our stake in ETW. Despite the difficult period of the pandemic, over the years we have increased the investment up to almost two million euros. Although we still hold a significant stake in ETW, we have now been able to multiply this amount,” says Grandpa.

“At ETW, we see an example of a company whose product will play a vital role in the twenty-first century,” adds Dědka partner of Prime Fund Jan Svoboda. “ETW's potential is huge, but without crucial investor money, its chances of more growth would be very difficult,” considers.

The company from Nelahozevsi can do something that, according to the grandfather, only a handful of enterprises in the world can handle. The company has learned how to make packaging new from discarded dirty plastic packaging. This is not usually the case; recycled plastic often becomes a trash can. And the most polluted waste polyethylene ends up from more than 90 percent in incinerators or landfills.

In 2022, the brothers Tomáš and Petr Loudovi launched the first line, which, however, can perfectly clean various types of plastics and produce high-quality and clean plastic regranulate as the final product. The latter can then be used to make stretch films, plastic bags, water tanks or pipes. ETW's customers include dozens of companies from the Czech Republic and abroad, among others such as Zalando, Otma, Hamé Babice or Vitana.

“We know our technology works. We know how to produce regranulate, which is and will be of increasing interest both in the Czech Republic and in the rest of Europe,” Thomas Louda thinks. He believes that is why right now it is necessary to invest in expanding production lines and raising awareness of products in order for the firm to gain the largest possible market share.

“Until now, our customers have been and are companies from the packaging and petrochemical industries, but in the coming years the share of customers from other industries will increase,” assumes and talks about the technological leap and the possibility of being a leader in the processing of waste polyethylene.

According to Svoboda, thanks to ETW's money, it can secure the construction of several new lines over the next few years. “And on each of them then generate a turnover of up to six million euros a year,” plans. However, even twice that would not be enough for the current demand, so the company is aiming for such a number.

“In Europe, up to 20 million tonnes of waste polyethylene per year needs to be processed. In addition, as a result of European legislation requiring the mandatory addition of recycled material to plastic packaging, interest in regranulate will increase in the long term.” says.

According to the trade register, the ETW brothers Tomáš and Petr Loud, who founded the company, retain 15 percent. And 16 percent remains to the first investor, the American company Trumont, which put money into the project in 2019.

He brought American football into the project — before founding the firm, the Loud brothers had been professionally involved in it, so they met Griffin Neal, a former player and owner of Trumont, part of the R. D. Offutt consortium founded by Neal's grandfather. The consortium is also the largest potato producer in the US and the largest distributor of John Deere agricultural equipment in the world. In addition, he invests in innovative companies.

Prime Fund, which is behind Jan Svoboda and Dusan Moskaliev, recently announced, that he invested in the order of tens of millions of crowns into startup Foxdeli when he bought out the stake of second investor Lighthouse Ventures. Grandfather is building a name as an angel investor by investing in impactful and sustainable startups. He has sent money, among other things. cricket protein food manufacturers Sens and Cricket Lab, NutritionPro service or Buildiro platform.

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