Thousands of employees in Skellefteå, Västerås, and Stockholm are affected by the bankruptcy.
The bankruptcy application was submitted to the Stockholm District Court on Wednesday morning. This comes after several months of attempts to find new capital and restructure the debt mountain under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the USA.
The business is now being handed over to a bankruptcy trustee, appointed by the Stockholm District Court. This trustee will now lead the work of selling off Northvolt's assets and operations to raise money for the creditors in the bankruptcy.
Drive forward
According to Johnstone, there is a possibility of driving forward Northvolt's operations with new owners and thereby saving some of the nearly 5,000 jobs that are at risk of disappearing in the bankruptcy.
We are now ending this chapter, but we are still looking ahead to the next, says Johnstone as he concludes a press conference about the decision at Northvolt's headquarters.
He says that many production problems have been addressed and the outflow of money has been slowed down. Talks have also been held with both industrial and financial partners about new capital during the Chapter 11 process.
But I can't promise anything. It's up to the bankruptcy trustee, he says.
"The only available solution"
In a press release, Northvolt writes that the board's decision was "the only available solution".
Northvolt owner Vargas Holdings' CEO Carl-Erik Lagercrantz regrets "the difficult decision" in an email to TT.
He adds that he still sees domestic European battery production as "crucial" for competitiveness.
"I hope that the expertise and knowledge developed during Northvolt's journey will continue to drive the green transition forward".
The bankruptcy application applies to the units Northvolt AB, Northvolt Ett AB, Northvolt Labs AB, Northvolt Revolt AB, and Northvolt Systems AB.
The employees were informed about the decision on Wednesday morning after the decisive board meeting.
In a comment, the Unionen club writes that it is a dark day in Skellefteå. The Swedish Association of Engineers calls the news "devastating".
"This is a tough message for our members, who have worked hard to save the company", says Ulrika Lindstrand, chairperson of the Swedish Association of Engineers.
The Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt, which currently has nearly 5,000 employees, sold its first battery in 2022 and then said it was aiming for a stock market listing with a valuation of around 200 billion kronor.
But after a series of production problems, the winds turned clearly last year. In the summer of 2024, the company lost a major order from BMW, and in the autumn, it made significant personnel reductions and project closures to get the economy back on track.
In November, Northvolt applied for bankruptcy protection in a Texas court, USA, with the aim of restructuring the debt mountain of 60 billion and raising new capital during the first quarter of this year.
On Wednesday, the company applied for bankruptcy in the Stockholm District Court.
