Loop Industries Signs License, Marketing, and Services Pacts for India JV

What happened

Loop Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq: LOOP), a company that develops depolymerization technology for recycling plastics, announced on August 19, 2026 that it has entered into three agreements with Ester Loop Infinite Technologies Private Limited (ELITe), its joint venture with Ester Industries Ltd. The agreements were signed on August 13, 2026 and are effective as of February 4, 2026.

The License Agreement grants ELITe an exclusive, perpetual (subject to termination) license to use Loop's proprietary depolymerization technology to build and operate manufacturing facilities in India and elsewhere. ELITe will pay royalties to Loop based on a tiered percentage of annual net sales of licensed products, with rates declining at higher revenue levels. Once annual net sales exceed $500 million, royalty payments become subject to minimum and maximum annual amounts, and rates for sales over $2 billion will be negotiated in good faith.

The Marketing Agreement appoints Loop as the exclusive sales and marketing representative for ELITe's licensed products. Loop will set prices and quantities, subject to ELITe board approval, and will receive tiered marketing fees based on annual net sales under transferred contracts, with similar caps and negotiation triggers.

The Services Agreement, between ELITe and Ester, provides for Ester to supply services including post-incorporation assistance, project management, and operational support, plus a license to Ester's continuous polymerization know-how at no additional cost. ELITe will pay Ester tiered service fees based on annual net sales, with the same $500 million and $2 billion thresholds.

Loop's stock closed at $0.6698 on August 19, up 8.03% from the prior close, on volume of about 55.9 million shares compared to an average of about 516,000 — a more than 100-fold increase.

Context

The agreements were originally disclosed in May 2024 when Loop and Ester formed the joint venture. The August 2026 signing formalizes the operational and commercial terms, allowing the venture to move forward with building an Infinite Loop manufacturing facility in India to produce recycled dimethyl terephthalate (rDMT), recycled mono-ethylene glycol (rMEG), and specialty polymers.

The filing does not state why the agreements were signed now, several months after the joint venture was formed, nor does it detail the status of the planned facility.

What this means

An 8-K is a form a public company files with the SEC to disclose major events that shareholders should know about. Item 1.01 covers entering into a material definitive agreement — here, the license and marketing contracts that are core to the joint venture's business model. Item 8.01 allows the company to disclose other events it deems important, which is where the services agreement is reported.

ELITe is a venture company headquartered in India, set up to build and operate a plant using Loop's depolymerization technology. Depolymerization breaks plastics down into their chemical building blocks, which can then be reused to make new plastics.

The royalty and fee structure is tiered: as sales grow, the percentage rates decline, but once sales exceed $500 million, there are minimum and maximum payment amounts. This structure is common in licensing deals to balance revenue sharing with the licensee's profitability.

The agreements are effective retroactively to February 4, 2026, which means the parties have been operating under these terms since that date, even though the documents were only signed this month.

The full text of the agreements will be attached as exhibits to Loop's next periodic report (typically a 10-Q or 10-K), giving investors access to the complete terms.