COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -A co-founder of struggling Swedish battery maker Northvolt is willing to inject 100 million crowns ($9.50 million) in the group and may be joined by pension funds AMF and AP, broadcaster SVT reported late on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.
Northvolt is in talks with investors and lenders to secure short-term funding of some 200 million euros ($217 million), three people familiar with the matter told Reuters last week as the board and management seek to stabilise the group’s finances.
Harald Mix, who co-founded the battery maker in 2016, could inject 100 million crowns, SVT reported.
The Vargas investment group, which is chaired by Mix, declined to comment.
Northvolt has gone in a matter of months from being Europe’s best shot at a home-grown electric-vehicle battery champion to racing to raise funds.
Swedish private pension fund AMF and the state-owned AP Funds, which have already invested in Northvolt, may also contribute more money, provided that other shareholders and lenders are also willing to contribute, the SVT report said.
An AMF spokesperson told Reuters the fund manager had not yet made any decision on Northvolt funding.
A spokesperson for the AP group of funds told Reuters they were monitoring developments closely and were involved in an ongoing dialogue.
“Given the challenging situation the company is in, we don’t comment further and refer to Northvolt and their communication for the time being,” the AP spokesperson said.
Northvolt said: “We in general have constructive dialogue with our investors, lenders and customers and see progress,” but declined to provide any further details.
The company has previously said it made significant progress in recent weeks in its effort to raise cash.
The investment arm of Goldman Sachs Group, Northvolt’s second biggest owner, also considers participating in efforts to rescue the battery maker, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Goldman Sachs declined to comment when reached by Reuters.
($1 = 10.5237 Swedish crowns)
($1 = 0.9214 euros)
(Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen and Marie Mannes, editing by Terje Solsvik and Tomasz Janowski)
