Northvolt owners summoned to a general meeting about the future

Northvolt has summoned its owners for an extraordinary general meeting. At the general meeting, which will take place on 8 January 2025, the owners are to confirm that the activities will continue according to Northvolt’s press officer Erik Zsiga.

Northvolt's owners have been summoned to a general meeting. Archive footage.

Northvolt's owners have been summoned to a general meeting. Archive footage.

Foto: Henrik Montgomery/TT

Ekonomi2024-12-27 14:37

The summons, which has not been made public was sent out about two weeks ago, according to Zsiga.

He adds that the meeting must be held in the prevailing situation in order for Northvolt to not be in breach of Swedish law.

Many of Northvolt’s owners have, ahead of the general meeting – as has previously been reported by the news agency Bloomberg – written down the value of their holdings in the company. This since the battery manufacturer has applied for bankruptcy remoteness in an American court which entails a risk for existing shares becoming worthless when the planned reorganisation is carried out.

The largest owners according to the latest available annual report is Volkswagen with 21 per cent of the shares and Goldman Sachs with 19.2 per cent.

The third largest owner is Vargas Holding with the financier Harald Mix who holds 7.2 per cent of the shares. However, among the smaller institutional owners are also the state-owned AP funds, AMF Pension and Folksam.

On Friday of last week a negotiation was held with creditors in the bankruptcy court in Texas that is administering Northvolt’s Chapter 11 reorganisation. The negotiation resulted, according to Zsiga, in the company being given the green light to keep paying employees, suppliers, taxes and insurance policies as well as for the public benefit services that are required to keep the company alive during the reconstruction.

Facts

The financially strained battery manufacturer Northvolt applied – after, during the autumn, seeking in vain for new capital infusions and loans of several billions – Chapter 11 reorganisation in a Texas court in November. The company had at that point suspended a number of projects and laid off around a fifth of the staff during the autumn.

At the end of October, Northvolt had just over 7,000 employees, the majority in Skellefteå, Västerås and Stockholm. However, at the time the group also had hundreds of employees in Poland, Germany and Canada.

The debt – which the company hopes to get rid of through reorganisation – amounted to more than SEK 60 billion when the application was submitted to the court in Texas on 21 November.

Northvolt has set the goal to complete the reorganisation during the first quarter of 2025.