The Swedish electric battery manufacturer Northvolt, which is drowning in debt, is meeting with its shareholders on Wednesday to ask them to approve the continuation of its activities, it announced on Tuesday.
Northvolt, whose debt amounts to $5.84 billion, placed itself under the protection of American bankruptcy law at the end of November (the Chapter 11
) in an attempt to avoid liquidation.
Shareholders’ meeting called for Wednesday is a procedural measure
required by Swedish law when equity capital decreases significantly, explained a spokesperson for the group, Martin Höfelmann, in a message toAFP.
The Board of Directors recommends business continuity and this is the decision we anticipate
he added, specifying that this meeting was 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.
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Employees at work at the Northvolt factory in Västerås, Sweden. (Archive photo)
Photo : Reuters / Helena Soderpalm
Job cuts
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.
However, 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.
