When Northvolt paid its taxes of just over a quarter of a billion on Monday, many people breathed a sigh of relief, but the crisis is not resolved.
Northvolt already has to pay another couple of hundred million in wages on October 25. Money that Northvolt, according to SVT’s sources, does not currently have, even though Northvolt writes in an email to SVT that it plans to pay on time.
More money
One of Northvolt’s founders, Harald Mix, appeared today at a seminar on fossil-free competitiveness and promised to support with more money. According to SVT’s information, it is in the order of 100 million.
According to information to SVT, the state AP funds and the pension giant AMF should also be willing to contribute more money. They have previously invested eight billion of the Swedish people’s pension money in Northvolt. Money that risks completely going up in smoke in a bankruptcy.
It is unclear how much more one can now conceivably bet. It would likely require a broader solution where significantly more shareholders and lenders, and perhaps also customers, need to be involved and contribute further.
At the same time, the multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs, the second largest shareholder in Northvolt, is also considering joining other investors in an attempt to save the company’s situation. That according to anonymous sources Bloomberg.
The largest owner in Northvolt is the German Volkswagen, which so far has not openly spoken about entering with more capital. Northvolt’s management has said that negotiations are moving forward, other shareholders say the situation is pretty much deadlocked.
Ensure survival for a couple of months
Today, Northvolt is desperately trying to raise a couple of billions in new capital. It is then about securing survival for a couple of months. Earlier this spring, it was hoped for a new issue that you would give 15 billion, which would be needed to cope with the future.
Harald Mix today did not want to give any interviews or answer journalists’ questions after the seminar, but on stage he said that battery manufacturing is more complex than many might have thought. He tried to play down the crisis, talking about “temporary problems that can be expected” and also suggested that the global economy with declining electric car sales diluted Northvolt’s current problems.