Luxor Capital acquires insolvent truck manufacturer Volta Trucks
As reported, Volta Trucks had to file for insolvency in October, including not only the Swedish unit, but also the group’s most important trading company, Volta Trucks Limited, which is based in England. The background to this was apparently the insolvency of Volta’s battery supplier Proterra in August, which had led to a “significant impact on Volta’s production plans”. The de facto halt to production then meant that Volta was unable to raise new money in an already difficult capital environment.
The hoped-for quick agreement with an investor could not be reached in October. However, the insolvency administrators of Alvarez & Marsal Europe are now presenting a deal that was announced a few days ago. Luxor Capital is taking over the company and creating the sub-company “Volta Commercial Vehicles Limited” for this purpose. However, according to Sky News, despite the takeover, most of the 600 or so British employees at Volta Trucks still have to fear for their jobs.
Volta was founded in Sweden and also has its headquarters there, but its business operations are mainly based in England. Hedge fund Luxor Capital was one of the largest investors in the electric truck manufacturer even before Volta Trucks went bankrupt. Luxor Capital increased its stake in Volta Trucks again in February 2022 – although the exact investment amount or shares were not disclosed at the time.
With the 16-tonne version of the Volta Zero, which has been in series production since April, Volta Trucks has a real asset. However, it is not yet clear where the all-important battery will come from in the future. It is possible that it will continue to come from Proterra: In November, the Volvo Group bought Proterra’s battery division. The Swedish company is taking over the development centre for battery modules and packs in California and Proterra’s battery assembly factory in South Carolina, which opened in January 2023. However, exactly how Proterra will be continued and integrated into the Volvo structure is not yet known.
According to Reuters, Volta Trucks had raised a total of around 460 million euros from investors and taken orders for more than 5,000 trucks by the time it went bankrupt.
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