Teco 2030 slides into insolvency

The Norwegian fuel cell manufacturer Teco 2030 has to file for insolvency. There is no longer a realistic possibility of raising sufficient capital to continue operations.

The company writes this in a short press release. “The board of directors of the Company has this evening decided to file for bankruptcy. The board decision is unanimous and is due to the fact that there is no longer a realistic opportunity to raise sufficient capital to continue operations. The bankruptcy petition will be filed this evening,” reads the announcement, which was published on 10 December.

There had been signs that the company was not in a good position: Teco 2030 had only announced a strategic reorganisation of its business in September. The original business idea of producing its own fuel cell systems was abandoned in favour of licensing the company’s own technologies. Instead of investing in expensive production, Teco 2030 wanted to concentrate on development and then make the technology available to customers and production partners under licence. The company saw the licence model as an opportunity to tap into international growth potential.

Without a more detailed statement on the current situation, it is of course unclear why exactly Teco 2030 had to file for insolvency – for example, whether the planned licence model did not take off well or the financial burden was already so great that even the reorientation could no longer save the company.

The only thing that is clear is that the FC specialist had already complained in September about the sluggish willingness to invest in Norway. ‘Despite efforts to secure risk financing in Norway, from both the public and private sectors, interest and capital support for clean tech projects remains limited,’ the company wrote at the time.

Teco 2030 first unveiled plans for a ‘gigafactory’ for marine fuel cells to be built in Norway in early 2021. The company had ordered the production technology for the pilot line, which was built in Narvik, from Thyssenkrupp. Despite the focus on maritime drives, Teco 2030 later also set its sights on road vehicles – and developed a 40-tonne truck with a fuel cell together with AVL.

marketscreener.com