There is renewed optimism for battery recycler Li-Cycle to restart construction on its expanded facilities in Greece.
And significant hurdles as well.
The Toronto-based company’s stock price rode that wave of hope and skepticism to close out last week. The rollercoaster continued with the start of trading Monday.
An end-of-day announcement last Thursday that Li-Cycle had closed on an upsized $475 million loan with the Department of Energy fueled a surge in the stock price. The loan amount was $100 million more than the initial DOE commitment, and included $30 million in capitalized interest.
“It’s been a multi-year effort, for sure,” Li-Cycle CEO Ajay Kochhar said of the loan discussions that date to late 2021.
But those gains were erased Friday and the stock ended up losing value. The hitch: Li-Cycle must pay off outstanding debts and build up its reserves in order to receive the loan funds. In all, the company needs to raise $265 million in cash or credit by this time next year.