Source: Financial Times [UK]
“Northvolt is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after Europe’s best-funded start-up and main hope for countering Asian dominance in electric vehicle batteries failed to agree a last-minute rescue package with investors. The Swedish group said on Thursday night that it was filing for Chapter 11 reorganisation in the US — an option for overseas companies that operate there — and would carry on operating as normal in the mean time. … Northvolt was seen as crucial to Europe’s automotive industry and its best chance of fighting back against the likes of China’s CATL and BYD, Japan’s Panasonic, and South Korea’s LG and Samsung in EV battery production. But the Swedish group, which raised more than $15bn from investors such as Volkswagen, Goldman Sachs and BlackRock as well as the German and Canadian governments, has struggled to increase production at its one factory in Skellefteå in northern Sweden.” (11/21/24)