The U.S. Chapter 11 case of Northvolt AB concluded with dismissal on April 1, 2025, after the Stockholm-based battery manufacturer used the bankruptcy to obtain bridge financing, complete asset sales, and shift its restructuring into a parallel Swedish insolvency proceeding filed on March 12, 2025.
Northvolt — operator of the Northvolt Ett gigafactory in Skellefteå, Sweden, and employer of roughly 6,600 people across seven countries — filed for Chapter 11 protection on November 21, 2024 (Voluntary PetitionDkt. 1) with approximately $30 million in cash, about one week of runway. The filing followed a 2023 slump in electric-vehicle demand, production delays and quality issues at the Skellefteå plant, pricing pressure from established Asian battery manufacturers, and BMW's cancellation of a EUR 2 billion battery cell order in June 2024; out-of-court "stable platform" measures had proved insufficient to resolve the liquidity crisis (first-day declaration of Scott MillarDkt. 4). At the petition date, Northvolt's capital structure layered first-lien secured facilities — export-credit-backed term loans and revolvers — beneath a $405 million Danske Bank–agented second-lien facility, an unsecured shareholder bridge loan, and roughly $3.4 billion in subordinated Volta and KfW convertible instruments; the claims docket ultimately reflected 39 claims totaling over $9.9 billion across the secured and unsecured classes.
The debtors moved immediately for postpetition financing, securing court authority for a $100 million multiple-draw DIP term loan from shareholder Scania CV AB, with interim and final DIP orders entered on November 21 and December 20, 2024, alongside parallel authority to use cash collateral. First-day motions were heard on the petition date (first-day hearing agendaDkt. 10). The DIP proceeds and cash-collateral use funded operations while the debtors marketed and sold assets, including the Hydrovolt recycling joint venture and the Industrials Business, consistent with the debtor's stated goal of completing dispositions and exiting the U.S. case rather than pursuing a standalone plan.
With the U.S. cases dismissed on April 1, 2025, and the Swedish bankruptcy underway since March 12, 2025, the restructuring has migrated to Sweden; no further U.S. plan confirmation or near-term U.S. milestones remain pending.
