It was on October 8 at 8:00 a.m. that Northvolt filed for bankruptcy for the subsidiary Northvolt Ett Expansion at the Stockholm district court. Northvolt justified the decision to put the subsidiary into bankruptcy with the decision earlier in the autumn to stop the expansion in Skellefteå, which in turn was a consequence of the group’s deep financial crisis.
The company wrote a letter to the subcontractors that the decision was difficult, and explained in the media that the bankruptcy became necessary with the decision a month earlier to stop the expansion in Skellefteå.
The bankruptcy administrator estimated the debts in the company at SEK 2-3 billion immediately after the bankruptcy filing, but the bankruptcy estate records show that the debts to the suppliers alone are twice as large.
– These are very large amounts for many suppliers, who end up in a tough position. There are several who have claims of over 100 million. Many are local companies, says Jonas Premfors, bankruptcy administrator.
The largest claims are held by Swedish T-konstruktion with SEK 428 million, and Korean CIS Company Ltd with SEK 597 million.
There are few priority claims.
– This means that there will be some distribution to the suppliers, says Jonas Premfors.
Shrinking assets and large bank debts
At the same time, the assets in Northvolt Ett Expansion have shrunk to a tenth since the beginning of the year. The assets mainly consist of the started new factory next to the existing one in Skellefteå, which was valued at nine billion kroner at the turn of the year, according to the annual report.
In total, just before the bankruptcy, the assets were valued at 13.9 billion according to the bankruptcy estate.
Now, according to the bankruptcy administrator’s estate register, the buildings are worth only SEK 500 million, and the machines SEK 200 million. In total, the company’s assets are worth just under SEK 1.3 billion.
In addition to the debts to suppliers, the company has, among other things, bank debts to Swedbank of SEK 141 million and a debt to its own parent company of SEK 1 billion.