Posted on 20 May 2025
Swiss mining giant Glencore has made an initial bid to buy some assets of Canadian recycling company Li-Cycle after its declared bankruptcy, Kallanish learns.
Last week, Li-Cycle announced it had started proceedings before the US Bankruptcy Court to conduct a court-supervised sale of its assets. Glencore, its largest secured creditor, agreed to provide $10 million to finance current capital requirements to continue operations at Li-Cycle’s facility in Germany and implement a restructuring.
Earlier in May, the group stopped operations at its facilities in Arizona and Alabama, furloughing 85 employees. It also said it would axe 32 jobs at its Toronto headquarters.
Glencore has also agreed to a “stalking horse” credit bid for at least $40m for Li-Cycle’s four US sites and the plant in Germany, its intellectual property, and some of its liabilities. This means that more prospective buyers can make their own bid, but they cannot be lower than Glencore’s.
Li-Cycle and Glencore agreed in 2023 to jointly develop a battery-grade recycling facility in Portovesme, Italy, near Glencore’s metallurgical complex. Work on a feasibility study was paused until last December, when the two companies announced plans to resume their collaboration.
Earlier this year, the pair evaluated a potential transaction to provide Li-Cycle with additional financing, but the company said negotiations did not lead to a proposal “in the best interests of the company and its stakeholders.”
Li-Cycle had been seeking additional financing after the costs to build its flagship Rochester hub, located in upstate New York, nearly doubled to $960m. The US government granted a $475m loan last November, but the company warned in March that it still required “significant funding” to resume construction at Rochester.
Source:Kallanish
