Volvo Cars says it will pay Northvolt almost nothing for battery joint venture stake

(Reuters) - (This Feb. 6 story has been corrected to say Volvo 'will pay Northvolt almost nothing,' not 'will not pay Northvolt,' in the headline and paragraph 1, and to say 'purchase price is rounded to 0 Swedish crowns,' not 'purchase price is 0 Swedish crowns,' in the second bullet point)

Volvo Cars will pay Northvolt almost nothing for its 50% stake in their battery venture Novo Energy that it had agreed to acquire, according to the automaker's quarterly report on Thursday.

Last week, Volvo Cars agreed with Northvolt to take over its stake in the venture, which included a planned Gothenburg battery cell factory without disclosing the amount involved.

Northvolt, once considered Europe's best hope for a battery champion, filed for U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November last year.

"The purchase consideration rounds to 0 m SEK. The purchase amount has been negotiated as part of a larger settlement with Northvolt, taking many factors into account," a Volvo spokesperson told Reuters.

Northvolt did not respond to a request for comment.

The Novo battery factory, announced in 2021, was meant to start production in 2026 but Volvo has said a new investor would be needed for that to happen, and that it was exploring other options for the building.

Volvo Cars CEO Jim Rowan told Reuters on Thursday that it had wind- and waterproofed the building to protect it while it decides what to do with it. Construction had almost finished when Northvolt's problems arose last year.

"We'll decide exactly how we use that building in the future, whether we sell it or whether we use it for a different purpose, we'll figure that out in the months ahead," Rowan told Reuters.

($1 = 10.9147 Swedish crowns)

(Reporting by Marie Mannes, writing by Alessandro Pardi; Editing by Bernadette Baum)