Hedge funds continue to provide strong financial support to PureCycle Technologies. Several prominent firms recently participated in the loss-plagued recycling company’s second private placement this year — and at least the third in less than two years.
Last week, the company announced it had raised $300 million from new and existing investors, including Stanley Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Family Office, Wasserstein Debt Opportunities, Hong Kong–based hedge fund Pleiad Investment Advisors, Samlyn Capital, and Sylebra Capital Management. The capital raise includes Series B convertible perpetual preferred stock, which will pay dividends at a 7 percent annual rate, payable in kind or in cash at the company’s option, according to the press release.
This is the second private placement PureCycle has completed this year. Back in February, the company raised $33 million in a deal anchored by Pleiad, with participation from Sylebra and Samlyn.
In September 2024, PureCycle announced a series of transactions with Sylebra and Samlyn to raise $90 million. They included issuance of $50 million of Series A preferred stock with a three-year maturity and an 8 percent return; a common stock sale of 8.5 million shares at $4.69 apiece, for total net proceeds of $40 million; the issuance of warrants to purchase 5 million shares of common stock, each exercisable at a price of $11.50 with an expiration of December 1, 2030; and the extension of Sylebra Capital’s $200 million line of credit to March 31, 2026.
And in August 2023, PureCycle priced $215 million of 7.25 percent green convertible senior notes due 2030 in an upsized private offering. Sylebra committed to purchase up to $50 million at maturity of the notes.
PureCycle purports in its communications to hold a global license for the only patented solvent-driven purification recycling technology, developed by Procter & Gamble. It is designed to convert polypropylene plastic waste into a continuously renewable resource.
It went public in March 2021 through a merger with Roth CH Acquisition I, a special purpose acquisition company. The stock initially peaked at just over $32 but plummeted to a low of about $2.40 in January 2024. The stock has surged about 150 percent since late April, closing Wednesday at $13.87. Investors are probably excited that in the first quarter of 2025, the company finally reported its first revenues.
Sylebra is by far the largest shareholder, with 19.5 percent of the shares. The stock is its largest holding, making up more than 20 percent of its U.S. assets, per its latest 13F filing. In addition, Jeffrey Fieler and Dan Gibson, Sylebra’s co-founders, serve on PureCycle’s board of directors.
The stock is only a small part of Duquesne’s and Samlyn’s overall portfolios.
