Two years ago, Li-Cycle was valued at over $2B.

Now, Glencore owns it.

Li-Cycle filed for bankruptcy in May 2025.

It's a textbook case of execution and planning risk in battery recycling.

Big vision. Strong investors. A strategic partner in Glencore.

But reality was brutal:

• Rochester Hub's budget exploded from $560M to over $1B.

• Cash dried up, even with a $475M DOE loan.

• Construction paused, workforce cut, and momentum gone.

Glencore was already in deep, as an investor, creditor, and customer.

Now they have Li-Cycle's spoke network in North America and Europe, plus the nearly completed Rochester Hub.

This isn't like Lyten buying Northvolt.

Glencore is a giant, with 150,000 employees and $230 billion in revenue for 2024.

They have decades of experience in mining, metals trading, and recycling.

That makes me confident they can move this forward.

But, the big question:

Will Glencore finish the Rochester Hub and turn it into a profitable metals recovery plant?

Here's the catch: the battery market in the U.S. is caught between two seats.

The EV market is slowing down while energy storage systems (ESS) are growing fast.

But there's a problem.

The ESS market relies heavily on LFP batteries, which have significantly less value than NMC or NCA batteries widely used in the U.S. EV market.

This puts pressure on recycling economics.