Sweden

Sweden’s Intrum AB has struck an agreement with a noteholder group that could resolve a key obstacle in the debt collector’s bid to restructure in U.S. bankruptcy court, Bloomberg News reported. The company had “come to terms” with the group of debt holders ahead of a hearing in the US bankruptcy court, according to Andrew M. Leblanc, a company attorney. The agreement requires the consents of other parties, a process that’s currently underway, he said at a Monday hearing in Texas.

Denmark’s biggest pension fund, ATP, is taking a major hit on its 2.3 billion-krone ($324 million) stake in troubled battery maker Northvolt AB, Danish broadcaster DR reported, according to Bloomberg News. ATP is one of the largest owners in Northvolt with a stake of about 5%. The value of that holding “probably won’t be very far from zero,” the asset manager’s Chief Executive Officer Martin Praestegaard told DR in an interview, stopping short of giving a specific amount for the writedown. “By far most of the investment is gone,” Praestegaard said, according to DR.

Swedish landlord SBB has launched a major overhaul of its debt structure as it prepares to fight a landmark litigation case against US hedge fund Fir Tree Partners in London next month, Bloomberg News reported. Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden AB, as the company is officially known, is planning to issue at least €1.7 billion ($1.8 billion) of new bonds that existing noteholders can exchange with their current securities.

Just weeks after the collapse of Swedish battery maker Northvolt AB, its founder Vargas Holding is turning its attention to another energy-intensive industry that needs cleaning up, Bloomberg News reported. Partnering with Rio Tinto Plc, Fortum Oyj and Mitsubishi Corp., Vargas plans to build a low-carbon primary aluminum plant in Finland that could be up and running late this decade. The project — named Arctial — would add another piece to the Swedish investment firm’s portfolio that also includes green steel, textile recycling and heat pumps.

Northvolt has held talks with a big industrial company on selling the business that makes electric battery packs for heavy industry, as a lack of funds forces it to try to divest one of its few profitable operations by the year-end, an internal memo shows, Reuters reported. The rush to sell is the Swedish company's latest effort to strengthen its finances and shrink the business to focus on battery cell production, rather than being an all-in-one-shop for making and recycling electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Last month, Europe's biggest hope for an EV battery champion filed for U.S.

Swedish bankruptcy levels are expected to exceed 10,000 this year, a figure that hasn’t been seen since a financial crisis in the 1990s spread from the banking sector into the wider economy, according to credit reference agency Creditsafe i Sverige AB, Bloomberg News reported. “So far this year, 9,197 limited companies have gone bankrupt, an increase of 24% compared to the same period last year and a material 64% more than two years ago,” Creditsafe Chief Executive Officer Henrik Jacobsson said in a statement Monday.

Germany will assume more than €600 million ($629 million) of debt that its development bank extended to Northvolt AB for the construction of a battery plant in the country, Bloomberg News reported. The federal government will this month reimburse lender KfW for the value of a convertible bond and related costs, a spokesman for the economy ministry said in an emailed response to questions from Bloomberg. Privately-held Northvolt filed for bankruptcy protection in the US last month after a desperate bid to secure rescue funding fell short.

For Northvolt AB, the Swedish startup that became a poster child for Europe’s electric-driving future, the route to collapse started in June when BMW AG canceled a multi-billion-dollar order, Bloomberg News reported. Back then, few saw the significance of the move, which effectively started a countdown that would culminate in a Chapter 11 filing less than six months later. Northvolt scrambled to keep the financing flowing, but as Germany’s car industry fell deeper into its own crisis, it became clear orders would dry up.

Northvolt's CEO and co-founder Peter Carlsson stepped down on Friday, a day after Europe's biggest hope for an electric vehicle battery champion filed for U.S. chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Reuters reported. The Swedish maker of battery cells went in a matter of months this year from being Europe's best shot in a vital industry for the energy transition to racing to stay afloat, hobbled by production problems and dwindling funds. Its collapse deals a big blow to Europe's hopes of reducing its auto industry's reliance on Chinese battery suppliers such as CATL and BYD.

Sweden’s Northvolt AB hired restructuring expert Paul O’Donnell to oversee its main factory unit, as time runs short for the struggling battery maker to mend its finances outside of bankruptcy court, Bloomberg News reported. O’Donnell, who has helped Thames Water engage with creditors, will become chairman of Northvolt Ett AB, the subsidiary that contains the flagship cell-manufacturing plant in northern Sweden. Northvolt has struggled to raise $300 million in emergency funding, with Bloomberg News reporting on Friday that talks on the package were on the verge of collapse.