California-based battery specialist Lyten wants to accelerate its growth by acquiring the insolvent Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt. Industry observers consider the planned acquisition plausible from the US company's perspective. As a supplier of lithium-sulfur batteries instead of lithium-ion batteries, Lyten is evidently focusing on a different battery technology that is less dependent on China, Warburg Research analyst Fabio Hölscher told Börsen-Zeitung. „If the technology becomes competitive, it offers an opportunity.“ In addition, Lyten is now acquiring the Northvolt infrastructure at a „significant discount“ and does not have to finance the ramp-up of the business to the same extent.

Dan Cook, CEO and co-founder of the US company launched in 2015, said on Friday in Skellefteå, Sweden, that the main Northvolt Ett plant and the Northvolt Labs research site offer the most advanced battery development and production facilities in Europe. „Facilities like these must continue to exist.“ Batteries are essential for energy independence, national security, and competitiveness, he said. „Battery technology is simply too important to leave exclusively to others,“ said the Lyten boss, referring to the dominance of Asian suppliers. The aim of the acquisition is to expand the lithium-sulfur battery and energy storage systems business in Europe and North America.

„Demand for these products will increase significantly,“ said the former automotive engineer. The acquisition of the Northvolt Ett Expansion plant in Skellefteå and the factory project in Heide, Schleswig-Holstein, are „essential to our business plan.“

Regarding the financing of the expansion, the Lyten CEO said that there had been „incredible momentum“ in capital raising in the first ten years since the company was founded. The investor base, which includes US companies Fedex, Honeywell, and Walbridge, US financial investor Prime Movers Lab, and Opel's parent company Stellantis, as well as several billionaires, will be further expanded in various regions around the world. At the end of July, existing investors had invested 200 million dollars of equity in the company. According to its own figures, Lyten has received more than 625 million dollars in venture capital investments. In addition, at the end of last year, the company secured loan commitments from the Export-Import Bank of the United States in the amount of 650 million dollars.

According to Warburg Research analyst Hölscher, other European car manufacturers investing in Lyten, as Volkswagen once did in Northvolt, could make strategic sense in order to secure access to technology and a say in decision-making. „It should increase the chance of more production taking place in Europe and reduce dependencies.“ Hölscher does not expect Lyten to change the dependence of German and European car manufacturers on the major battery producers in Asia, especially China, in the short or medium term.