Scrap Metal Exporter Files for Stock Offering

WCS International, an Anaheim scrap metal exporter, said it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the sale of 3 million shares and 1.5 million warrants in an effort to raise from $12 million to $15 million.

The company, whose name is being changed to Adams International Metals Corp., wants to sell the shares and warrants in an offering of 1.5 million units. Each unit would consist of two shares of common stock and a redeemable warrant for the purchase of one share of common stock within five years.

The price of the units will be determined just before to the effectiveness of the registration statement.

The offering would be made after a reverse stock split, approved last month by the company’s board of directors, is effected.

The 1-for-2.5 reverse split will decrease the number of common shares outstanding to 2 million from 5 million and should increase the value of each share, said Leonard Kopp, the company’s chief financial officer. A successful offering would increase the common shares outstanding to 5 million again.

Kopp said Sherwood Securities Corp. in New York City, managing underwriter for the proposed offering, believes the higher-priced stock would attract more investors. The name change and the reverse stock split are subject to shareholder approval.

Proceeds of the offering will be used to reduce indebtedness, to purchase inventory of scrap raw materials and equipment and to add to working capital for future expansion and potential acquisitions, the company said.