Metier, through its Sustainable Capital International Fund II (SCII), has invested significant growth and replacement capital in Mertech Marine, the world leader in the recovery and recycling of out of service submarine telecommunications cables. 

John Hannig, Director of Metier and a principal in the fund management activities of the Sustainable Capital Funds, said: “We are very excited about our investment into Mertech, which is a demonstration of a global leading circular-economy champion based in Africa.” 

“We are partnering with an experienced management team for the next stage of Mertech’s growth at a time when there is increased emphasis on metals recycling and the provision of alternative low-carbon sources of materials, with copper being a fundamental input for the clean energy transition.” 

As the only turnkey provider of recovery and recycling capabilities in the world, Mertech has successfully processed more than 105 000 kilometers of undersea cable and cleared tens of thousands of tons of cable from cable depots around the globe. 

Since inception, the company has displaced an estimated 250 000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent through its recovery and recycling efforts.  

Mertech’s cable dismantling facilities in South Africa and Southeast Asia are the result of years of research and development by its in-house team of passionate engineers. 

The facilities ensure that valuable commodities such as copper, steel and plastic are responsibly recycled and placed back into the circular economy. 

The facilities not only process cables recovered by Mertech, but also provide this service to the broader submarine cable industry. Mertech owns an impressive portfolio of out-of-service cables for future recovery using its own fleet of specially equipped and versatile cable recovery vessels. 

 Alwyn du Plessis, CEO of Mertech, said: “We have been fortunate to build long-term partnerships in our journey of growing the business in an exciting, yet challenging environment. We are excited about the Metier team joining us in this new growth chapter.” 

“We believe that together we will be able to further the ambitions of the Mertech leadership team beyond what we could imagine today. We have always seen huge opportunity in creating additional value to the recovered materials such as copper, steel and plastics through enhanced downstream processes. With Metier’s investment and support this can now be further unlocked.” 

Mertech is the seventh portfolio company of the SCII fund, which has a pan-African investment mandate for renewable energy, energy efficiency, resource-efficient infrastructure, and waste management. 

Rand Merchant Bank, who will support capital expansion and working capital requirements to support the anticipated growth of the company, has worked alongside Mertech and Metier in the close of the transaction.