The sources requested anonymity to discuss details of the IPO preparations.
Northvolt has raised about $8 billion in debt and equity to date from a wide range of investors, including Baillie Gifford and Folksam Group.
"We will need more capital going forward, and we see it as natural to be prepared for an initial public offering in the future, but such a transaction is not relevant today in current markets," a Northvolt spokesperson said. The potential share sale would come in an IPO market in gradual recovery from a 2022 slump driven by stock market volatility and fears of an economic slowdown.
Several big companies, including SoftBank-backed chipmaker Arm Holdings and social media company Reddit, are also preparing to go public in late 2023.
Northvolt has so far raised billions in debt to fund its
factory investments, including $1.1 billion raised last year in
convertible notes that have helped it to increase liquidity and
ramp up production at its gigafactory in Skelleftea, Sweden.
Building such facilities is a costly undertaking,
highlighted last month by the collapse of Britishvolt after it
failed to to raise funds for an electric vehicle battery
factory.
(Reporting by Anirban Sen in New York and Supantha Mukherjee in
Stockholm; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
