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Northvolt has agreed to sell industrial battery units to Scania, a Swedish truck manufacturer, as European troubled battery manufacturers will step up their rebuilds and strengthen their finances.
The Swedish battery startup said on Tuesday it will sell its industrial battery business based in Gdankk, Poland. It supplies batteries to customers in mining, agriculture and construction equipment manufacturing, and supplies them privately to customers.
The sale continues with the submission of Northvolt’s Chapter 11 in November. Europe’s largest battery startup faced severe production delays at its factory in the sub-active town of Skellefteå, and the group scrambled to find up to $1.2 billion to end bankruptcy. Co-founder Peter Carlson resigned as CEO the day after the collapse.
“This transaction is another important milestone that we have reached our path to focus on the company,” said Matthias Arleth, Northvolt’s Chief Operating Officer.
The global EV battery market is dominated by Asian groups led by GATL and BYD, and controls around 70% of the global market. To reduce its reliance on Asia on green technology, Brussels wanted to establish a battery supply chain across Europe. Northbolt was at the heart of his ambition.
Before last year’s epic downfall, Northvolt had collected more than $500 billion orders from auto groups such as Volkswagen, which owns Scania, Porsche and BMW, but to increase production quickly enough. I was unable to do so.
The company owns a fifth of its shares by German automaker Volkswagen, which has since been aiming to scale back its expansion plans and raise fresh capital from strategic and financial investors.
Later last month, Northvolt reached an agreement to hand over Volvo Car, a partner in the joint venture that is responsible for full ownership of Novo Energy, to build a battery factory in Gothenburg. The two companies have also signed a framework agreement to “exploring how they can cooperate in the future, including future supply opportunities in North America.”
Northvolt has also sold the remaining stake in Battery Recycled Hydro Volt to Norsk Hydro as it expects to complete the restructuring by the end of March.
Neither Northvolt nor Scania revealed the size of the transaction, but Sweden’s daily Svenska Dagbladet writes that Northvolt will be paid for less than SKR100MN (8.9 million euros). In the construction of the Gdansk Plant.
The transaction strengthened the relationship between the two companies. Scania, one of Northvolt’s biggest clients and financial aid, injected an additional $100 million into a struggling battery maker following the filing of Chapter 11 last year.
The sale of the unit, which employs approximately 300 people, including workers, at a battery prototyping facility in Stockholm, is subject to approval by Swedish regulatory authorities.
