The Northvolt factory project in Quebec is likely to fall through due to the Swedish company’s financial problems, according to the media’s bureau chief. Bloomberg in Montreal.
• Also read: Crisis at Northvolt: Minister Champagne remains “confident”, but “cautious”
“It would be surprising if it went forward when we take into consideration all the factors,” says Mathieu Dion during an interview on the show The Balance SheetWednesday evening.
He explains first of all that it is certainly not a good sign when a company which has managed to raise “the equivalent of 10 billion [de dollars américains] in equity” in recent years is no longer able to get its hands on a sum of 300 million dollars.
“That means we lack money and that doesn’t leave many solutions,” he summarizes. The solution on the horizon […]barring a miracle, […]is that the company protects itself from its creditors.”
However, the expert has not mentioned, so far, the possibility of Northvolt going bankrupt, which turns out to be good news for the company, but not necessarily for Canada.
By being pushed to undertake drastic measures, the Northvolt company could abandon projects for which revenues are not yet assured, such as that of the factory in Montérégie, Quebec.
“We will absolutely prioritize the factory in Sweden to produce batteries and generate income. In these contexts, we cannot afford expansion projects like the one in Germany or even in Canada, here near Montreal, unless more money is found, unless we manage to build the project,” he said, giving a glimmer of hope.
And precisely, Mr. Dion maintains that there is always a possibility that the project in Quebec will be saved, since otherwise the provincial government could lose its investment which exceeds 500 million dollars.
«[Les gouvernements fédéral et provincial] are ready to put subsidies on the production of 4.6 billion batteries by 2032. So this is a factory that could potentially pay off, over time, which could be beneficial for Northvolt, but in the short term, what “you have to find it in Sweden, it’s money at all costs,” he says.
Watch Mathieu Dion’s interview in the video above.
