Sweden

Sweden’s Riksbank cautioned that loosening requirements on mortgage amortization could lead to increased stability risks, pushing back against a proposal intended to make it easier for first-time buyers to enter the housing market, Bloomberg News reported. The warning from the central bank comes after a government-appointed inquiry advised that households be allowed to pay down less on mortgages exceeding 70% of the value of the home. The so-called macroprudential rules were introduced in the wake of the global financial crisis amid concern over rising house prices and ballooning debt.

Cash-strapped battery maker Northvolt AB is working on a plan to raise more than 10 billion kronor ($920 million) to continue its operations beyond the immediate horizon, according to its chief executive officer, Bloomberg News reported. “In the long term we need to secure a capitalization of somewhat north of 10 billion kronor in the coming year,” CEO Peter Carlsson told reporters after a seminar in Stockholm on Wednesday.

Sweden’s central bank lowered its key interest rate on Thursday, becoming the first central bank to do so since the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president created fresh uncertainties about the global economic outlook, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Riksbank cut its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 2.75% and said borrowing costs would likely be lowered again soon as an economic recovery seems elusive.

The crisis at Swedish battery maker Northvolt AB contributed to an historically high rate of bankruptcies last month, when the company’s main expansion project in Skelleftea went insolvent, Bloomberg News reported. A total of 821 companies went bankrupt in October compared to the monthly average of 576 over the past 10 years, according to credit reference agency Creditsafe. Several large bankruptcies were connected to Northvolt, the agency said in a statement.

Sweden’s Northvolt AB is likely to complete an expected funding round of about $300 million next week, as the troubled battery-cell maker races to get its finances on a more stable footing, Bloomberg News reported. The final steps are being drawn out because of the complex documentation needed for the deal involving customers, investors and lenders, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing a private matter. While the bailout is progressing, the timeline to complete the new package may yet move, the person added.

Volkswagen AG’s truckmaking brand Scania plans to equip all its future electric trucks with Northvolt batteries, in a vote of confidence for the cash-strapped Swedish battery maker as it works to seal up a rescue package, Bloomberg News reported. “We are now shifting over. For the future, all of our currently sold battery electric vehicles will come with Northvolt cells,” Scania Chief Executive Officer Christian Levin said in a call with reporters on Monday. The volumes Northvolt is currently supplying to Scania are “satisfactory to us given the total market right now,” Levin said.

Swedish battery maker Northvolt is making significant progress towards raising a new financing package, it told Reuters on Monday. The group has been in talks with investors and lenders in recent weeks to secure short-term funding, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Oct. 11, as the board sought to stabilise the company's finances. It has already started collecting signatures for a financing package potentially larger than $300 million, that could be announced before the end of the month and give the battery maker enough funds until next year.

Europe's biggest debt collector, said on Friday that it will file for voluntary chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States as it seeks to restructure its own finances, Reuters reported. The company has struggled as the pandemic, an energy crisis and two-decade-high interest rates failed to unleash a wave of loan defaults, with concerns mounting over Intrum's net debt, which reached 49.4 billion Swedish crowns ($4.69 billion) at the end of June.

Northvolt AB is closing in on an about $300 million rescue package that includes debt and equity, buying time for the cash-strapped Swedish battery maker to stabilize production and line up longer-term financing, Bloomberg News reported. A combination of shareholders, lenders and customers are participating in the bridge funding, and the instruments vary among these groups. Discussions are in the final stages, though there remains some risk they can still fall apart.

Troubled Swedish battery maker Northvolt AB has laid off nearly 400 white-collar workers at its center of operations in Skelleftea as part of concluded negotiations with two of the Swedish trade unions, Bloomberg News reported. The redundancies form part of a previously announced measure to cut 1,000 jobs at the Northvolt Ett plant in northern Sweden. The maker of electric vehicle batteries is racing to preserve cash while it negotiates a new financing pact with investors.