(Stockholm) The Swedish electric battery manufacturer Northvolt, which is drowning in debt, is meeting its shareholders on Wednesday to ask them to approve the continuation of its activity, it announced on Tuesday.
Posted at 10:55 a.m.
Northvolt, whose debt amounts to $5.84 billion, placed itself under the protection of the American bankruptcy law “Chapter 11” at the end of November to try to avoid liquidation.
The shareholders’ meeting convened on Wednesday “is a procedural measure” required by Swedish law when shareholders’ equity decreases significantly, said a spokesperson for the group, Martin Höfelmann, in a message to AFP.
“The board of directors recommends continuity of activity and this is the decision that we anticipate,” he added, specifying that this meeting is being held behind closed doors.
The two main shareholders of the Swedish group are the German car manufacturer Volkswagen, itself in financial difficulties, and the American investment bank Goldman Sachs.
The Swedish company has obtained $100 million in financing from one of its major clients, heavy-duty truck manufacturer Scania, owned by its shareholder Volkswagen. It also obtained $145 million in loan secured against its assets.
Northvolt cut 1,600 jobs out of 6,500 at the end of 2024 and froze the development of its main production site, in Skelleftea in northern Sweden.
The Swedish group founded in 2016 has long been considered one of the great European hopes in batteries at a time when Europe is seeking to catch up with Asian, Chinese (CATL, BYD) and Korean (LG) giants in particular.
But the group has accumulated significant production delays in recent months and has decided to refocus its activity solely on the production of battery cells, abandoning the rest of the production chain (cathodes, recycling, etc.).
Northvolt’s production delays and the slowdown in demand from automotive customers have accelerated the fall of the Swedish group.
In May, BMW abandoned an order worth two billion euros due to delays.
