The meeting begins at 1 pm. The owners have two alternatives to vote on, according to Erik Zsiga, press chief at Northvolt: continue operations or liquidation.
"Need more information"
If the decision becomes liquidation of Northvolt – with thousands of employees in Skellefteå and Västerås – a liquidator will replace the company's board and CEO. The liquidator will sell all assets to pay off as much of the company's debts as possible with the revenue. If anything remains after that, this surplus will be distributed among the company's owners.
"Our dialogue with Northvolt continues with the starting point of protecting invested values by taking responsibility and contributing to Northvolt's best in the long run. We continue to monitor the situation and need more information before we can take a stand", writes Jenny Askfelt Ruud in an email to TT.
Askfelt Ruud is the chairman of the four state-owned AP funds' joint owner company "4 to 1 Investments", which has invested a total of SEK 5.8 billion in Northvolt and currently owns 3.7 percent of the battery manufacturer's shares.
Declines to comment
From the two largest owners – German Volkswagen, American Goldman Sachs, and Swedish Vargas Holding – it's a closed door ahead of the extraordinary meeting.
"No comments", is the message from Goldman Sachs.
"We do not comment on our partners, investments, or suppliers", writes a spokesperson for VW in an email to TT.
Vargas Holding, with Swedish financier Harald Mix, holds 7.2 percent of the shares. Mix has previously spoken positively about Northvolt's attempts to restructure under bankruptcy protection in the USA. But now the company does not want to comment on the situation.
Northvolt applied for bankruptcy protection in a Texas court last autumn under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Act, with a debt mountain of approximately SEK 60 billion. Before the application, the crisis-stricken battery manufacturer tried in vain for several months to raise new capital and new loans to avoid going bankrupt.
The battery manufacturer Northvolt's crisis took off after the German major customer BMW withdrew an order worth over SEK 20 billion for electric car batteries in June, due to quality and production problems.
In late December, Northvolt – after negotiations in a bankruptcy court in Texas – received approval from creditors to continue paying employees, key suppliers, taxes, and insurance, as well as public services, in order to be able to continue operating under bankruptcy protection.
Northvolt aims to complete the restructuring, which is taking place under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Act, during the first quarter of 2025.
Most of Northvolt's nearly 6,000 employees work at the Northvolt Ett battery factory in Skellefteå:
Skellefteå: 3,400 employees
Västerås: 1,100 employees
Stockholm: 750 employees
Gdansk: 350 employees
Montreal: 130 employees
Heide/Hamburg: 95 employees
