Exchange-ready lithium-ion batteries. Starting in 2022 or 2023, plans for the listing of the Swedish company Northvolt, involved in Volkswagen’s plan for 6 Gigafactories by 2030 (and orders for 14 billion), should become concrete. The aim is for a valuation that could start from 20 billion to go up to 30.
The largest shareholders are the US investment bank Goldman Sachs and the Volkswagen group, which owns about 20% of the company. BMW is also at stake, with a smaller share. A spokesperson for Northvolt ruled out that time was tight, but did not rule out an IPO for the future.
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Northvolt number one Peter Carlsson had already told the US business magazine Business Insider his thoughts on running the company at one time or another. However, the latest funding rounds have given the company some freedom of movement. In early June, Northvolt raised $ 2.75 billion to expand the capacity of the factory it is building in northern Sweden. “But somehow we’re going to need to access the extra cash flow that comes with being listed,” Carlsson said. The value of the company with the most recent loans had risen to just under $ 12 billion.
The large demand for battery cells leads to high capital requirements for Northvolt. Global sales of electric vehicles are expected to increase by about 70% in 2021, after reaching nearly 2.5 million in 2020, according to IHS Markit. The Swedish battery factory, currently under construction in Skelleftea, in the north of the Scandinavian country, is now designed for an annual production capacity of 60 gigawatt hours of battery storage, of which up to 40 gigawatt hours are for Volkswagen and 15 gigawatt hours for the home Swedish car Volvo. Together with Volvo, Northvolt wants to build another plant in Europe with a capacity of 50 gigawatt hours.
“Northvolt has raised more than $ 6.5 billion in equity and debt in total to enable an expansion plan that will bring in more than 150 GWh of annual production capacity distributed in Europe by 2030,” the company said. The Swedes aspire to compete with Asian champions such as the Chinese of CATL (number one in the world) and the Koreans of LG Chem. The goal is a 25% market share in Europe by 2030.