Primobius
Structuring a joint venture for growth.
Lithium-ion battery recycling · JV operations
Neometals engaged Michael in December 2022 – from 2023 through MPC – to support its Head of Recycling and the Managing Director of Primobius, the Neometals–SMS group joint venture: to represent Neometals’ interests in the JV with SMS group, implement a robust operating framework and processes, and drive strategic partnerships and global business development. In August 2023 Primobius won Mercedes-Benz as its first automotive customer, and the JV set out to scale.
Facing a similar challenge? See how we start ↓The Objective
Turn a strong partnership and a Mercedes-Benz order into an operation built to deliver.
Primobius combines Neometals’ process technology with SMS group’s engineering. After its demonstration plant in Hilchenbach, it won Mercedes-Benz: an order in August 2023 for a fully integrated recycling plant in Kuppenheim, followed by its hydrometallurgical refinery in January 2024.
Neometals’ Head of Recycling, the Managing Director of Primobius and Michael agreed the priorities: represent Neometals’ interests inside the JV, put in place an operating framework and processes both partners could run on, map what operational readiness required, and build strategic partnerships and a global business development pipeline for the plants that would follow – while supporting the JV in formalising the Mercedes-Benz contract.
What Michael Put in Place
Six workstreams for the JV, working with both partners in their own languages – with the value of each.
- 01Structuring Operations
- 02Business Readiness
- 03Global Partnerships
- 04Inside China
- 05Global Benchmark Reporting
- 06Joint Venture Activation and Scale-up
Structuring Operations
Operating model · Decision and reporting · Policies
Michael structured the decision and reporting framework, since one depends on the other, together with executive roles, one budgeting routine for the whole JV, a policy set from code of conduct to intellectual property, and service agreements with both parents. Representing Neometals inside the JV and working in German with the SMS side, he aligned the partners.
The value: informed decisions on the same facts for both partners, and clear ownership of every workstream.
Business Readiness
Operational readiness · Organisation · Sales and marketing roadmap
Recycling is as much about regulation and organisation as technology. Michael mapped what operational readiness required, first in Germany, then in the JV’s target markets:
- the licence to operate – waste and dangerous-goods law, permits, OEM certifications and cross-border shipping of batteries and black mass
- the functions and organisation the business would need
- a sales and marketing roadmap with the go-to-market and product roadmap
The value: one map both JV partners could work from – a structured basis for dialogue and alignment on products, scope, resources and budget, and a foundation for the JV’s strategic direction and its mid- to long-term strategy.
The licence to operate, mapped
24 German, EU and international laws, ordinances, conventions and standards – battery and product law, waste, emissions, dangerous-goods transport, cross-border shipment, safety and certification – the German baseline at the time, extended to the markets the JV would enter.
Carmakers and holders of end-of-life batteries, cathode makers and buyers of recovered materials, and the government and industry bodies that shape each market.
Global Partnerships
Business development · Europe, North America, Japan, Korea, China
Michael led partnership development across five regions with carmakers and holders of end-of-life batteries, cathode makers and buyers of recovered materials, and the bodies that shape each market. This included negotiating offtakes with buyers and with parties looking to invest in recycling to become part of the value chain, and qualifying the recovered materials through test trials and customer feedback. He explored roles for each party – operator, investor or client – identified potential investors in new plants, and mapped each opportunity’s risks to the partner best placed to carry them: a go-to-market built on shared interests and a sustainable business case.
The value: access to feedstock and customers ahead of new plants, and an edge no partner could build alone.
Inside China
Market intelligence · April 2024
China is by far the largest and most advanced battery recycling market – and no Western strategy is complete without understanding it: its cost structures, strategic intent and direction, technology pathways and reference plants. Michael spent months with equipment makers, recyclers, battery manufacturers and anode material producers across eight provinces and municipalities, from Beijing to Shanghai and Shenzhen, mapping how the industry works, assessing suppliers against Western standards and identifying who is open to partnership. He tracked developments around the latest battery chemistries – LFP and sodium-ion – their anticipated impact on recycling economics and the trends already visible on the ground, and assessed wet processing and pyrolysis against the EU Battery Regulation, the Battery Passport and the Critical Raw Materials Act.
The value: a strategy grounded in first-hand knowledge of the market that sets the pace, technology choices that fit Europe, and a global business plan.
Equipment makers, recyclers, battery manufacturers and anode material producers visited on the ground.
The field, by player type
Global Benchmark Reporting
Competitor intelligence · Europe, North America and China/Asia
Michael set up a recurring benchmark of more than 30 competitors across Europe, North America and China/Asia, assessed with the same method, giving the board and both shareholders a common basis for deciding where to focus.
The value: one shared view of the competition, and the right workstreams prioritised.
Joint Venture Activation and Scale-up
Align · Activate · Scale
A signed agreement is only the start. Michael helped align the shareholders behind one plan, activate the joint venture as an operating business and prepare it to scale – bringing the operating framework, the readiness map, the partnerships and the market intelligence together into one plan the shareholders could act on. As Primobius moved from demonstration scale towards its first commercial plants, he supported the Managing Director in growing the team: defining the roles, identifying candidates and interviewing them.
The value: a joint venture that moved from agreement to execution, with the structures, people, partners and priorities in place to grow.
From agreement to scale
The Result for Primobius Battery Recycling
A joint venture structured to deliver.
Both partners decided on the same facts, with clear ownership of every workstream, a readiness map for the business and strategic partnerships across five regions. In October 2024 Mercedes-Benz opened its Kuppenheim plant – Europe’s first battery recycling factory with an integrated mechanical and hydrometallurgical process, built on Primobius technology. SMS group, now the sole owner, takes Primobius into its next stage.
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