Swedish battery maker Northvolt to go public in next two years

Northvolt, a Swedish battery maker backed by BMW and Volkswagen, plans to go public within the next two years as consumer demand forelectric vehiclebatteries surges, according to foreign media reports .Carl-Erik Lagercrantz, founder and chairman of Northvolt, said the company was "ready to go" for an initial public offering (IPO).

Image credit: Northvolt

Northvolt, one of three green tech startups led by Lagercrantz and private equity veteran Harald Mix, is valued at about $12 billion after raising $6.5 billion in debt and equity.

Lagercrantz said that although the company did not need to go public from a financing standpoint, it is still a "reasonable expectation" to go public within the next two years.Lagercrantz, 57, launched efforts to build a battery industry in northern Sweden in 2016.

Northvolt's renewable energy and smaller carbon dioxide emissions are key to the company's differentiation from Asian battery giants such as China's CATL, Japan's Panasonic and South Korea's LG Chem.

In May, the company became the first in Europe to make commercial deliveries of batteries to an automaker, and its Ett plant in Skelleftea is still expanding, although Northvolt also plans to build a new plant in Gothenburg to supply Volvo Cars and Polaris. Star car companies supply batteries.

In addition, Northvolt's third plant in northern Germany, called "Northvolt Drei", is scheduled to be completed in 2025.This will bring Northvolt's overall battery manufacturing capacity to over 170 GWh, making it one of the largest battery manufacturers in Europe.