Battery recycler Li-Cycle is considering bankruptcy protection after a deal to be taken over by mining giant Glencore collapsed, saying it will have to liquidate if it can’t find a new buyer.

Late Thursday, the Toronto-based startup announced the suspension of operations at several factories and a C-suite shakeup that will see its co-founder step down as CEO with no named replacement. 

Ajay Kochhar’s term as chief executive will end May 15 and he is no longer on the firm’s board, while chief financial officer Craig Cunningham has been replaced by consultant Michelle Faysal. William Aziz, who previously helped turn around The Toronto Star Group and U.S. Steel Canada, is joining the board as chief restructuring officer. 

Meanwhile, the company’s Arizona and Alabama factories are halting operations to save cash, leaving about 85 employees furloughed, along with 32 at the firm’s Toronto headquarters. It will continue operations in Germany.

Li-Cycle has been reviewing a potential tie-up with the Swiss miner since March 14, but said Thursday it couldn’t find a way forward that would be in Li-Cycle’s best interests. With debt coming due, the company said in a news release, it may need to “terminate its operations” and “dissolve and liquidate its assets” through insolvency protection.

Peter Fuchs, vice president of corporate affairs at Glencore Nickel, declined to comment. 

Whether the company finds a buyer or is sold off in pieces, it could mark a major loss of Canadian intellectual property that was being used to keep harmful waste from electronics and electric vehicles out of landfills.  

The company invented a way of recycling battery packs with minimal dismantling and heating, significantly reducing waste and speeding up the recovery of metals that would otherwise have to be mined. Early backers told The Logic that the leadership and technology was promising, and Li-Cycle went public in 2021 with a special-purpose-acquisition company (SPAC), at a valuation of US$1.55-billion. Glencore was a major backer and customer, and Li-Cycle quickly committed to operations around the world.

Despite its IP, and its deals with blue-chip clients like General Motors, the company has struggled. Investors have fled from SPAC stocks like Li-Cycle’s, and consumers haven’t switched to EVs as quickly as automakers expected. Meanwhile, disputes over construction costs halted progress on Li-Cycle’s most important factory in Rochester, N.Y., and U.S. federal funding for green projects is drying up after a change in administrations—though President Donald Trump has shown strong interest in the critical minerals that Li-Cycle’s technology recovers.  

Li-Cycle said Thursday it had hired Hilco Corporate Finance to help it find buyers for its assets or the company as a whole. 

“Li-Cycle requires additional financing to meet its obligations,” it said in the release, “to continue as a going concern.” 

This story was updated to include new details and Glencore’s answer to the The Logic‘s request for comment.