Waste stock gains securities market attention

The stock value of a small Ohio-based company engaged in waste management experienced major volatility in late July after an offshore fund bought up available outstanding shares in the firm.

According to an online report from Bloomberg News, shares in Warren, Ohio-based Avalon Holdings Corp. “surged more than 200 percent after a new holder disclosed a massive stake.”

The week of July 23-27, the stock’s value rose by more than 1,500 percent, according to Bloomberg, before shares fell 41 percent from during trading on Monday, July 30.

A Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Form 3 filing on Friday, July 27, disclosed that Nassau, Bahamas-based MintBroker International Ltd. has purchased 1.92 million shares in Avalon Holdings, amounting roughly to a 60 percent stake in outstanding shares. 

According to its website, Avalon provides waste management services under the name American Waste Management Services Inc. and American Landfill Management Inc. The company also provides services to salt water injection well operators and it owns the three-golf course Avalon Golf & Country Club in Warren, plus a related hotel.

On Monday, July 30, Avalon Holdings issued a press release saying it had reviewed the Form 3 filing and stated MintBroker “is not affiliated with the company, and Avalon has no information about that entity's intentions regarding its holdings.”

Ronald Klingle, chairman and CEO of Avalon, still holds approximately 67 percent of the voting power in the firm, and says he has no present plans to divest any of his holdings.

The news release further states Avalon Holdings “is confident in its business plan, it has made no recent material changes to that plan and is unaware of any information or events that would warrant the stock activity [in late July] other than the purchases disclosed in the Form 3.”