"We have already paid the tax, as we said last week that we would do", writes the company's press chief Matti Kataja in an SMS to TT.
"As I said earlier, we hope to be able to share more information as soon as possible regarding the financing", writes Kataja.
This after he last week said that Northvolt had made "significant progress" in the negotiations with owners, lenders, and customers regarding the financing of the business going forward.
Negotiating billions in support
According to the news agency Reuters, the goal is to bring in 200 million euros (approximately 2.3 billion kronor) and according to the news agency Bloomberg's sources, verbal promises of 150 million euros are already in place.
The deadline for paying the Tax Agency – VAT, employer contributions, and tax for six companies in the group, totaling 287 million kronor – expired on Monday. Had this not been paid, Northvolt would have been forced to apply for bankruptcy or reconstruction to protect the board members from becoming personally liable.
Northvolt, together with five of its subsidiaries, has around 360 million kronor in unpaid invoices noted as payment orders with the Enforcement Authority. Most of this, 278 million, is delayed payments that the bankrupt Northvolt Ett Expansion would have made.
Has notified 1,600 employees
In parallel with the negotiations for new battery orders, loans, and new capital, Northvolt is negotiating with union representatives about the layoffs of 1,600 employees that the company notified about in September – the majority of which are in Skellefteå.
An agreement is expected to be reached on that front this week.
Some kind of layoffs will occur, says Lena Lundgren, local coordinator for the IF Metall union.
Municipal director Kristina Sundin Jonsson says that it has been hectic weeks since the notification.
We know that local and regional companies will be severely affected. There may be bankruptcies and layoffs, she says.
Currently, a mapping of how other local companies are affected by the turmoil is underway.
Our role right now is to be a link and ensure that the measures that need to be taken are also taken. And very, very quickly. We are in a type of crisis now, she says.
Joakim Goksör/TT
Gustav Sjöholm/TT
Background: Northvolt in Skellefteå
TT
Battery manufacturer Northvolt has around 3,500 employees at the factory in Skellefteå.
IF Metall has around 2,000 members at Northvolt and has been negotiating about how the downsizing should be implemented since the end of last week. The Swedish Association of Engineers and Unionen also have many members at Northvolt who are affected.
Northvolt has also paused several large projects since the notification was made in September and has also applied for bankruptcy for the subsidiary Northvolt Ett Expansion, with several billion in debt.
