Northvolt bancrupt within the US, CEO Carlsson resigns | EUROtoday

Listen to the audio model of the article

Northvolt, the Swedish startup thought of the European spearhead within the manufacturing of batteries for electrical automobiles, has fallen into an unprecedented disaster. CEO and co-founder Peter Carlsson introduced his resignation this morning, a day after the corporate filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety within the United States. Northvolt had about $30 million in accessible money, it stated in a submitting, and $5.84 billion in debt.

Northvolt, based in 2016 and sometimes in comparison with Tesla for ambition and imaginative and prescient, recorded a dramatic turnaround in 2023. The firm, which gave the impression to be the principle European candidate to problem the Asian battery giants (regardless of having all the time remained removed from from the highest ten of the biggest international gamers, which sees the Chinese Catl and Byd firmly within the lead, adopted by the Korean LG Energy Solution), has been hit by manufacturing issues, missed inside targets and a critical lack of liquidity.

According to Carlsson, Northvolt now wants to boost between 1 billion and 1.2 billion {dollars} (way more than the 300 million estimated just some weeks in the past) to make sure enterprise continuity. «Chapter 11 permits us to reorganize the corporate, enhance manufacturing and respect commitments with prospects and suppliers, positioning ourselves for the long run», defined the outgoing CEO, who will stay as a marketing consultant and member of the board of administrators.

Emergency financing and reorganization

Northvolt stated it had solely sufficient money for one week of operations, however managed to safe $100 million in emergency financing to help operations through the chapter proceedings. The firm, which employs roughly 6,600 folks in seven international locations, expects to finish the restructuring by the primary quarter of 2025.

Temporary management will likely be offered by a workforce of executives, together with chief monetary officer Pia Aaltonen-Forsell and battery division president Matthias Arleth, who will tackle the function of chief operations officer.