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Local Sweden
08-08-2025
- Business
- Local Sweden
KEY POINTS: What do we know about the rescue of Swedish battery company Northvolt?
The US battery startup Lyten on Thursday announced that it had agreed to buy the Skellefteå and Västerås factories of the bankrupt Swedish battery company Northvolt. But does it have the capacity to take on such a challenging project? Advertisement What's happened? Lyten, a battery company based in the US, said it had reached agreement with Northvolt's administrator Mikael Kubu to buy most of the company's remaining assets for an undisclosed sum. In its press release, the company said it hoped to close the deal "in the fourth quarter", with the hope being that it will be complete in October. The company said it would buy assets formerly valued at $5bn, including the gigafactories in Skellefteå, Sweden, and Germany, and the research laboratory in Västerås. What's the background? Northvolt was declared bankrupt in March after struggling to get its production lines at the Skellefteå factory to work. The company's failure has been blamed on poor project management, problems with Chinese machinery, and overambitious expansion plans. Northvolt had raised about $13 billion in equity and debt since its founding in 2016, and its biggest owners at the time of the bankruptcy in March were Volkswagen with a 21 percent stake, and Goldman Sachs, with a 19 percent stake. It also had debts of 80 billion kronor, or $8bn, and some 5,000 employees. After potential buyers pulled out in the spring, the bankruptcy trustee, Mikael Kubu began winding down operations, closing the HQ in Stockholm, reducing operations at the R&D facility in Västerås to a minimal level, and preparing to sell the Skellefteå factory in parts. What do we know about Lyten? Lyten, is a startup with just over 300 employees, specialising in lithium sulphur batteries, carbon composites and other advanced materials. While it has promising technology, it has yet to produce batteries in large quantities, with output limited to a pilot line in San Jose, California. The core of Lyten's business is a new material called 3d graphene, which are core to its battery design. The company was co-founded and is chaired by a Swede, Lars Herlitz, a former Ericsson engineer who has spent the last 30 years as an entrepreneur in California. Lyten bought Northvolt Dwa, Europe's largest Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) manufacturing facility, in July. Herlitz told the Ny Teknik newspaper last month that Northvolt's assets in Skellefteå and Germany would be "a perfect fit" for his company and that he was "excited" about the possibilities in Sweden. One of Lyten's investors is the car company Stellantis, which owns Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroën, Dodge, DS Automobiles, FIAT, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, Ram, and Vauxhall. Advertisement What are Lyten's plans for Northvolt? The company said it planned to "immediately restart operations" at Northvolt Ett in Skellefteå and Northvolt Labs in Västerås as soon as the transaction closes. It also aims to restart Northvolt Dwa as soon as that transaction closes. In the press release, it said it was also interested in pushing forward to establish battery production at Northvolt Drei in Schleswig-Holstein, with 15 GWh of initial capacity. Finally, it said it hoped to acquire Northvolt Six in Quebec, Canada, which is constructing a 15 GWh Phase 1 battery manufacturing facility. Lyten's chief executive, Dan Cook, who began his career as a engineer with General Motors, said that seeing what Northvolt's current leadership had achieved had given him confidence that the factory in Skellefteå could be made to work. "I've spent years in factories and I know good leadership when I see it," he told the TT newswire. "The way I see it, they've solved some of the most obvious problems that were in the factory." In the medium term, Lyten hopes to use Northvolt's facilities to use make batteries using its own lithium-sulphur technology, which has higher energy density than traditional batteries using cobalt and nickel, and has a supply chain which is less heavily controlled by China. Advertisement What will happen to Northvolt's employees? The company said in its press release that it wanted to rehire a significant portion of the staff previously employed at the Swedish facilities. It also said that "multiple members of the current Northvolt executive team plan to join Lyten". It's unclear how many of Northvolt's international employees will still be in Sweden, as work permits only remain valid for three months after the end of the notice period. How much are they paying and where is Lyten getting its money from? This is one of the big questions. The terms of the deal are confidential, Lyten has yet to reveal who is funding its purchase and who will fund the massive investment required to bring Northvolt's facilities into full production. Mikael Kubu, the bankruptcy trustee, has revealed, however, that Lyten is not paying enough to repay Northvolt's creditors, so it seems to have got the assets at a heavily discounted price. "Even though it's a significant achievement that we have now been able to sell the business, it will not represent a success for the creditors," he said. "The majority of the assets are pledged subject to security transfers, and naturally, there will be some difference between the different entities of the estate, but there will be very many creditors which lose very much money in this bankruptcy." Advertisement Will the transaction definitely go through? The deal still requires approval from Swedish, German, and EU authorities, and without any transparency as yet over the funding, there's still a lot that could go wrong. Kubu said that he hoped the deal to buy the Swedish assets would complete in early October, with deal to buy the international assets taking somewhat longer. Can Lyten make it work? It won't be easy. "It won't be a bed of roses," Greger Ledung, a battery expert at the Swedish Energy Agency, told the DN newspaper. "Lyten has very promising technology, but what could be a problem is that it involves technology that is still untested on a larger scale. Being able to demonstrate it in pilot plants is one thing, but manufacturing on the larger scale required to be competitive is something else." On the other hand, Lyten is getting its hands on Northvolt's assets with much of, or all, of the debt written off, and it may be that Northvolt had solved some of its problems. Matthias Arleth, Northvolt's COO, said at the press conference that the company had managed to get production up to 30,000 cells a week of high quality, with only 800 staff, and very little wastage.
Local Sweden
07-08-2025
- Business
- Local Sweden
Lyten agrees to buy bankrupt Swedish battery company Northvolt
"It may not be possible to say that this is a success for the creditors," he told the Norran newspaper. "It has been a race against time. It costs a lot to have the factory even though we have reduced production and other things." The US company did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, but the trustee trustee Mikael Kubu said that Lyten was not paying enough to allow Northvolt's creditors to recover their debts. Lyten was co-founded and is chaired by the Swede Lars Herlitz, a former Ericsson engineer who has spent the last 30 years as an entrepreneur in California. Herlitz told the Ny Teknik newspaper last month that Northvolt's assets in Skellefteå and Germany would be "a perfect fit" for his company. 'This is a defining moment for Lyten,' Dan Cook, the company's CEO and Co-Founder, said. 'Lyten's mission is to be the leading supplier of clean, locally sourced and manufactured batteries and energy storage systems in both North America and Europe. The acquisition of Northvolt's assets brings the facilities and Swedish talent to accelerate this mission by years, just at the moment when demand for Lyten lithium-sulfur batteries is growing exponentially to meet energy independence, national security, and AI data center needs.' In a press release issued on Thursday, the US company said it was buying Northvolt Ett and Ett Expansion in Skellefteå, Northvolt Labs in Västerås, and Northvolt Drei in Heide, Germany. The company is also buying all remaining Northvolt intellectual property (IP), and taking on key members of the current Northvolt executive team. In its press release Lyten said that the assets it had agreed to acquire had previously been valued at $5 billion and included 16 GWh of battery manufacturing capacity, more than15 GWh of capacity under construction, and, with the Västerås facility, the largest and most advanced battery R&D center in Europe. Advertisement Lyten said it planned to rehire much of the workforce that had previously been laid-off. "Lyten's acquisition of the Northvolt assets is a win for Sweden, for the former employees of Northvolt, and for positioning Sweden as key to Europe's energy independence," Sweden's business minister Ebba Busch said in the press release. "We have been working closely with the trustee and Lyten to fully support this deal and we are excited to work with Lyten moving forward to make good on the immense potential of these assets." Lorents Burman, the mayor of Skellefteå, said that the the agreement had come as a relief. "That the battery factory can now live on is important, both for the people of Skellefteå and all those who now have the chance to get their jobs back, and that is why we are happy about this news," he told the TT newswire. "It has been a long journey since September last year and this is finally a result of all the work we have done. In my opinion, there was no alternative, but this was the only possible outcome that would eventually lead to a result." Lyten is funding the purchase through money raised from private investors, with the various transactions dependent on approvals from the Swedish and German governments and the EU. Lyten expects the deal to close in the final three months of this year. 'The demand for European and North American made batteries is only growing,' said Lars Herlitz, Lyten's Chairman and Co-Founder. 'The combination of Northvolt's world-class manufacturing assets and low-cost clean energy, Lyten's world leading lithium-sulfur battery technology, and Lyten's US battery materials supply chain creates the right formula to fulfill Europe and North America's battery manufacturing ambitions." Advertisement Lyten currently manufactures lithium-sulfur batteries in Silicon Valley and is selling commercially into the rapidly growing drone and defense markets. Lyten is also preparing to launch its lithium-sulfur batteries onto the International Space Station in the coming months and has a multi-billion-dollar pipeline for BESS powered by lithium-sulphur. The company will hold a press conference in Skellefteå at 1030am on Friday, Swedish time.
Reuters
24-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Battery maker Northvolt gets indicative bid, bankruptcy trustee tells Swedish radio
COPENHAGEN, June 24 (Reuters) - Northvolt's bankruptcy trustee has received an indicative bid from a foreign interested party for the company's business in Sweden, the trustee told Swedish radio on Tuesday. Northvolt filed for bankruptcy in March, making it one of Sweden's largest corporate failures and effectively ending Europe's best hope of developing a rival to challenge Chinese battery makers. "We now have an indicative offer on the table and hope for more indicative bids," bankruptcy trustee Mikael Kubu told public broadcaster Sveriges Radio. "We expect to receive another indicative offer during the day," he said. Reuters was not immediately able to reach Kubu for comment. The indicative offer covered Northvolt's battery cell factory in Skelleftea in northern Sweden and its research and development centre in Vasteras west of Stockholm, Sveriges Radio said. Kubu in May said the Skelleftea plant planned to wind down operations by the end of June although talks with potential buyers were ongoing.
Time of India
23-05-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
Northvolt to wind down battery making in Sweden by the end of June
Swedish automotive battery maker Northvolt , which declared bankruptcy in March, plans to wind down its remaining battery cell production in the Nordic country by the end of June, its trustee said on Thursday. Northvolt filed for bankruptcy in Sweden on March 12, making it one of the country's largest corporate failures and effectively ending Europe's best hope of developing a rival to challenge China. While the search for a buyer of the Swedish battery cell making business continued, there was no realistic prospect for a purchaser to assume control in the near term, bankruptcy trustee Mikael Kubu said in a statement on Thursday. "A gradual wind-down of battery cell production in Northvolt Ett will be initiated, with the objective of ceasing production by 30 June," Kubu said, referring to the company's plant in the Swedish town of Skelleftea , its main business. At the same time, there are interested parties and potential buyers for various business operations within the Northvolt group, and negotiations are ongoing at varying stages of progress, the bankruptcy trustee added. Northvolt said at the time of the March filing that its plant in northern Sweden would continue to run in the short term. It later received financial guarantees from key stakeholders to maintain a scaled-down continuation of its operations. The EV battery maker initially sought US Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November as its cash pile dwindled and it scrambled to secure funds, but it eventually failed to raise the cash needed.
Local Sweden
22-05-2025
- Automotive
- Local Sweden
Bankrupt Swedish battery maker Northvolt to end production in June
Swedish electric car battery maker Northvolt, which filed for bankruptcy in March, will stop production at its main factory in Sweden in June, the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee said on Thursday. Advertisement Founded in 2016, Northvolt had been seen as a cornerstone of European attempts to catch up with Asia and the United States in the production of battery cells, the crucial component of electric vehicles. Mikael Kubu, the trustee managing the bankruptcy process, said in March that he hoped that the ailing company could "maintain production" while they searched for a buyer. "The bankruptcy estate has been able to continue battery cell production with a limited number of employees, supported by the existing customer," Kubu said in a statement. However, Northvolt only had a single customer left, truck maker Scania. Advertisement "This arrangement is not sustainable in the long term for a single stakeholder, nor for the bankruptcy estate itself," he added. Kubu said that as a consequence "a gradual wind-down of battery cell production" would be initiated at the company's main factory Northvolt Ett in Skellefteå with the objective of ending production by June 30th. The trustee added that "efforts to identify a purchaser remain ongoing." Northvolt had struggled under a mountain of debt, slow demand and production delays, when it applied for bankruptcy in Sweden on March 12th. Later that month, Kubu announced that more than half of the company's 5,000 staff would be laid off, with around 1,700 kept on during the bankruptcy process. At the time, Kubu told news agency TT that continuing operations during the bankruptcy process was "likely crucial to be able to sell the business entirely or partially". The company had filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States in November to buy time to find new investors, but its efforts ultimately failed, leaving its 5,000 employees with an uncertain future.
