The US company Lyten wants to take over all the remaining locations of the insolvent Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt. Among them is the factory near Heide in Schleswig-Holstein. This was announced by the battery technology specialist based in California on Thursday, without providing information on the financial framework of the agreement. The Federal Ministry of Economics also confirmed on Thursday evening: “The US company Lyten has signed a purchase contract for the acquisition of the Swedish activities and a separate purchase contract for the acquisition of the German activities of the Northvolt company.” The conclusion of the acquisition (closing) is still subject to the fulfillment of certain enforcement conditions that would take a few more months, a spokesman said without naming details. “The Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy looks at these developments with a view to the Heide location,” said the spokesman from Minister Katherina Reich (CDU). For billions of dollars had already been a big one in November 2024 Northvolt plant secured in California. Around a month ago, the company from the Silicon Valley also announced that the Great Work of the Swedes in Danzig in Poland had a binding agreement on the acquisition of the Northvolt stem factory including the expansion plant in the Swedish Skellefteå, the Northvolt Lab Development Center in Västerås, the planned Northvolt three at Heide and all Mental property completed, Lyten said. These assets had previously been estimated at a total of $ five billion (4.3 billion euros). The company at the two Swedish locations will be resumed after the transaction was completed. Factory at Heide should still be implemented. To hold on to build a battery production system with an initial capacity of 15 gigawatt hours. It is certainly also about Northvolt granted. “However, until the final end, the closing, some hurdles still have to be clarified, in particular details and execution conditions in Sweden and Germany.” This is expected to take a few weeks to months. In March, Swedish company reported bankruptcy Annorthvolt as a manufacturer of batteries for electric cars for a long time as a great hope of the European automotive industry. However, the Swedes expanded, but had to cope with new setbacks such as the withdrawal of a billion -dollar order for battery cells by the car manufacturer BMW and wrestle with increasing debts. Almost a year ago, the company in Sweden then pulled the first tearing line by announcing the dismissal of an estimated 1,600 employees in Sweden and at the same time putting various expansion plans on ice. In November, the company applied for creditor protection in the United States and hoped for a successful restructuring process. That did not help: Northvolt filed for the company in Sweden due to persistent financing problems in mid -March. Until the end, it remained unclear how the planned giga factory at Heide should continue. The German subsidiary Northvolt Germany is an independent society, but as part of the insolvent parent company, indirectly affected by the procedure. Tax money of 600 million euros-burned? When construction in Schleswig-Holstein began in March 2024, hopes in the structurally weak region were high. The then Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and the then Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) also came to the symbolic construction for the 4.5 billion euro project. At that time, the construction of battery cells for up to one million electric cars per year was planned. In the case of state funding, a loss of million threatens the taxpayer. Northvolt had received around 600 million euros from the State Funding Bank KfW for the planned factory building near Heide via a convertible bond. The federal and state governments bonded half of the convertible bond. In addition, there were 20 million euros for interest and procedural costs. Part of the money is still said to be available. The EU Commission also approved direct funding of around 700 million euros from the state, 564 from the federal government) in early 2024. This money has not yet been paid out, Hababeck’s successor Katherina Reiche (CDU) criticized decisions from her predecessor about the state funding of Northvolt. At the end of June, she said in a government survey in the Bundestag that the investment decision was made with good intentions – but had proven to be “incorrect”. More on the subject of the federal government and Schleswig -Holstein, based on an expert opinion from the advisory company PWC. The document shows that the examiners considered a repayment of the convertible bond including interest rates to be “plausible”. They also assessed the sales potential for the battery cells produced by Northvolt as high. However, the report also showed that Northvolt was dependent on external investors to cover the expenditure. “According to the expert opinion that the Federal Government commissioned, the probability of default was below 1 percent and the probability of repayment was 86 percent. On this reliable basis we made the decision,” said Günther in July dpa. At the opposition request, his state government had to release extensive files in connection with the investment decision.
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