LG Chem, LG Energy Solution acquire W60b stake in Canada’s Li-Cycle

LG Group’s chemicals and battery units, LG Chem and LG Energy Solution, said Wednesday that they had acquired a 2.6 percent stake in Canadian battery recycling company Li-Cycle Holdings by investing 30 billion won ($25.3 million) each.

Li-Cycle, based in Toronto, operates North America’s largest lithium-ion battery recycling facility. The firm recycles waste from the EV battery manufacturing process and recovers battery metals for reuse.

The Canadian firm recently issued new shares as part of its processing expansion of its Rochester, New York, facility to better meet the growing demands from carmakers, and the LG duo made an equity investment worth a combined 60 billion won to secure a footing in the burgeoning market.

The two Korean firms also signed a separate deal with Li-Cycle to be supplied with 20,000 tons of recycled nickel for 10 years from 2023 -- an amount that can be used to produce 80-kilowatt-hour batteries for some 300,000 EVs.

With the latest deal, the two firms said they will be able to respond more preemptively to tougher ESG-related regulations in the US and other advanced markets.

LG Energy Solution, in particular, said it will be creating its own closed-loop battery ecosystem by recycling and reusing battery waste at all its production facilities by 2025.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)