Aleon Metals is now in post-confirmation liquidation: the Court has confirmed the joint liquidation plan, the plan went effective on April 22, 2026, and the estates have shifted from operating Chapter 11 debtors to a wind-down and GUC trust structure under the Effective Date NoticeDkt. 396.
The cases began on August 17, 2025, when Aleon Metals, Aleon Renewable Metals, and Gladieux Metals Recycling filed Chapter 11 petitions after operational and liquidity pressure overtook the Freeport, Texas catalyst-recycling platform. The CRO declaration tied the filing to a February-to-July 2025 SO2 scrubber malfunction and related downtime, weak throughput against 55,000 tons of permitted annual capacity, vendor and litigation pressure, the termination of Mason Metals financing, exhausted equity support, and roughly $403.2 million of funded debt across revenue bonds, bridge loans, shareholder debt, and other obligations under the Gallagher First Day DeclarationDkt. 2.
The case was shaped first by secured-creditor financing and a sale track, then by a liquidation plan. The Court approved a final DIP order authorizing a $62.5 million new-money senior secured superpriority facility, about $125.0 million of roll-up debt, priming liens, cash-collateral use, adequate protection, collateral-surcharge waivers, and sale milestones under the Final DIP Financing OrderDkt. 132. A creditor objection challenged the DIP structure as exclusionary to nonparticipating bondholders and argued the roll-up and control rights favored selected bondholders, but the financing framework remained the operative bridge into the sale process through the .
By February 2026, the debtors and the unsecured creditors’ committee had moved to a combined disclosure statement and joint plan of liquidation following the sale of substantially all assets to AM BidCo Operations LLC, with DIP claims satisfied through the purchaser’s credit bid and unsecured-creditor recoveries channeled through a GUC trust funded with at least $757,500 plus retained causes of action and insurance rights under the Joint Plan of LiquidationDkt. 360. At the April confirmation hearing, the Court approved the disclosure statement and confirmation path while narrowing third-party releases to Chapter 11-related matters, after evidence showed projected Class 3 recoveries of roughly 0.22% and acceptance by the sole voting class; the effective-date notice now makes professional fee claims the next dated milestone, due May 22, 2026, under the Confirmation Hearing AudioDkt. 392 and Effective Date NoticeDkt. 396.
