Li-Cycle Provides Organizational Structure Update – Li-Cycle to transition from regional to centralized management model to increase efficiencies

Li-Cycle Provides Organizational Structure Update – Li-Cycle to transition from regional to centralized management model to increase efficiencies.

Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. (NYSE: LICY) (“Li-Cycle” or the “Company”), a leading global lithium-ion battery resource recovery company, today provided a business update regarding its organizational structure.

As part of its previously disclosed ongoing comprehensive review and Cash Preservation Plan, which includes organizational right-sizing and right-shaping, the Company has made the strategic decision to transition from its regional management structure to a centralized model to better position the Company for future success and increase efficiencies.

Ajay Kochhar, Li-Cycle President and CEO, commented:

We are recalibrating our organizational structure to better align with the more focused priorities of Li-Cycle.

“We believe that a centralized model, and the consolidation of our operational and commercial teams, will increase efficiencies and facilitate cross-functional partnerships to enhance our planning process and ability to execute on our short- and long-term objectives. We remain focused on our key initiatives of completing our review of the go-forward plan for the Rochester Hub and evaluating additional financing and strategic alternatives after securing and closing the recent strategic financing from Glencore.”  

To ensure the appropriate management organizational structure, the Company made the following leadership changes, effectively immediately:

Tim Johnston, Executive Chair, will transition to the role of interim non-executive Board Chair, where he will provide leadership, support, guidance and strategic advice to the Company. Considering Glencore’s nomination rights associated with the recently closed strategic financing, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of the Board will be considering changes to Company’s Board and Committee composition, expected to be made immediately following Li-Cycle’s next annual general meeting in May 2024.  It is expected that these changes will include identifying an independent Board Chair.

Conor Spollen, who has been with Li-Cycle since January 2022, has assumed the role of Chief Operating Officer (COO). In this role, Mr. Spollen will be responsible for Li-Cycle’s global Spoke operations driving safety, productivity, and cost-efficiency. In addition to overseeing Spoke operations, following the completion of the technical and economic review of the Rochester Hub project, he will be responsible for project delivery and the planned operation of the Rochester Hub. Mr. Spollen has more than 33 years of international mining and metallurgical experience, serving in leadership roles in a number of global companies, including at Vale, where he was, among other roles, Chief Operating Officer for Vale Base Metals’ operating mines and processing facilities in Canada, UK, China and Japan.

Dawei Li, who has been with Li-Cycle since July 2021, has assumed the new role of Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). In his new role, Mr. Li will lead Li-Cycle’s global commercial function and consolidate the global team’s strategy and approach to continue building strong partnerships with key battery market players. He previously led Li-Cycle’s Asia-Pacific region and brings 20 years of experience in strategy and business development and leading growth in untapped markets to drive robust performance. Previous to Li-Cycle, Mr. Li served as Global Business Director for lithium carbonate at Albemarle Corporation.  

With the changes to the centralized and reduced size of the organization, Debbie Simpson, Chief Financial Officer, will be leaving the Company to pursue new opportunities. Since joining the Company in December 2021, Ms. Simpson has made a significant contribution to Li-Cycle through her executive leadership in financial management and strategic initiatives. She has helped lead the strategic funding roadmap for the Company and built a finance function to support the Company’s focus on fiscal responsibility and strong governance. Ms. Simpson will continue to support the team until May 31, 2024, to ensure a smooth transition.

The Company is pleased to announce that Craig Cunningham has joined Li-Cycle as its interim Chief Financial Officer, effective immediately. Mr. Cunningham has an extensive background in executive level leadership and brings more than 17 years of accounting, finance, operational, and capital markets experience. Most recently, he was Chief Financial Officer at Electra Battery Materials and prior to that served as Vice President and Regional Financial Officer at Kinross Gold.

With the change to a centralized organization model, Richard Storrie will cease serving as the Company’s Regional President, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) to pursue other opportunities. Mr. Storrie has provided strong leadership for the Company in both the EMEA and North America regions and has made significant contributions to Li-Cycle’s operations, commercial activities, and execution of its growth strategy.  He will continue in an advisory role until May 31, 2024, to support the transition.

Mr. Kochhar, said:

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Ms. Simpson and Mr. Storrie for their dedication and valuable contributions to the Company. We wish them the very best in their future endeavors.

“We are also excited to welcome Mr. Spollen, Mr. Li and Mr. Cunningham to their new roles. We believe their leadership, expertise and experience will be key to Li-Cycle’s future success.”

In addition to the leadership changes, and as part of the Company’s Cash Preservation Plan and the change from a regional to a centralized management model, the Company is taking other steps to reduce its workforce, primarily at the corporate level. Overall, the Company expects to reduce approximately 60 positions, representing approximately 17% of the Company’s global workforce. The Company estimates that it will incur total charges of approximately $8.3 million in connection with the workforce reductions, with the majority of these costs to be incurred as cash severance payments over the next twelve months.  These steps are expected to generate approximately $10 million in payroll and benefit cost savings on an annualized basis.

“I want to thank all of the impacted Li-Cycle team members, as they played a key role in helping us work towards our vision of creating a more sustainable lithium-ion battery supply chain. Although our Cash Preservation Plan is essential to position Li-Cycle for future success, we have deep appreciation and gratitude for their high-quality work and contributions and will provide the impacted Li-Cycle team members with support through a period of transition.”

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Li-Cycle Provides Organizational Structure Update – Li-Cycle to transition from regional to centralized management model to increase efficiencies. source