FREYR Battery (NYSE: FREY) (“FREYR” or the “Company”) has
announced that the Company has entered into an agreement to acquire
the U.S. solar manufacturing assets of Trina Solar Co Ltd. (SHA:
688599) (“Trina Solar”). The transaction is subject to certain
customary conditions precedent, including receipt of certain
third-party consents, completion of the preferred stock issuance to
Encompass Capital Advisors LLC and internal reorganization to be
completed by Trina Solar and is expected to close around year end
2024.
Highlights
- The transaction is expected to close year end 2024 and
creates a leading integrated U.S.-owned and operated solar
technology company with a pathway for value enhancing
growth
- FREYR is acquiring 5 GW, 1.35 million square foot solar
module manufacturing facility in Wilmer, Texas that started
production on November 1, 2024
- Trina Solar is a global leader in solar and renewable energy
industry with an established U.S. commercial presence, global
supply chains, advantaged technology, and a strong track record of
manufacturing and project execution for U.S. customers
- FREYR is developing a new 5GW, U.S. solar cell manufacturing
facility; site selection underway and targeting start of production
in H2 2026
- FREYR provides 2025 EBITDA guidance of $75 - $125 million.
FREYR expects to exit 2025 at full-year run rate EBITDA of $175 -
$225 million
- Total consideration to Trina Solar of $340 million,
comprised of $100 million of cash, $50 million repayment of an
intercompany loan, $150 million loan note, 9.9% of FREYR
outstanding common stock, and a convertible loan note that would
convert into an additional 11.5% of FREYR outstanding common stock
after certain conditions are satisfied
- Simultaneously, FREYR has secured a $100 million commitment
for the issuance of preferred stock issuance to Encompass Capital
Advisors LLC and $14.8 million through a private placement of FREYR
common stock
- Daniel Barcelo, FREYR’s Chairman of the Board of Directors
(the “Board”), assumes role of Chief Executive Officer of FREYR
with immediate effect and Evan Calio will remain Chief Financial
Officer. Subject to closing of the transaction, Mingxing Lin will
be appointed Chief Strategy Officer and Dave Gustafson will be
appointed Chief Operating Officer; while Peter del Vecchio will be
joining as Interim Chief Legal Officer with immediate
effect
- Co-founder Tom Einar Jensen appointed CEO of FREYR Europe
and will oversee value optimization of European assets
- New CEO Daniel Barcelo to remain Chairman of the Board of
Directors; W. Richard Anderson appointed to FREYR’s Board; Incoming
Chief Strategy Officer Mingxing Lin has been selected as a Board
nominee subject to closing of the transaction; Tom Einar Jensen to
step down from the Board
Under the terms of the agreement, FREYR will acquire Trina
Solar’s 5 GW solar module manufacturing facility in Wilmer, Texas,
which started production on November 1, 2024. The facility is
expected to ramp up to full production in 2025 with 30% of
estimated production volumes backed by firm offtake contracts with
U.S. customers.
Upon closing of the transaction, FREYR will execute a
multi-phase strategic plan to establish a vertically integrated
U.S. solar manufacturing footprint. The next phase of the plan will
be to construct a 5GW solar cell manufacturing facility in the U.S.
Site selection is underway and FREYR is targeting a start of
construction in 2Q 2025 with anticipated first solar cell
production in 2H 2026. The creation of a U.S.-owned and operated
company that can provide a turnkey solar technology solution is
expected to solve a bottleneck for developers, create up to 1,800
direct jobs, satisfy local content requirements for U.S. solar
projects, and competitively differentiate FREYR.
“We are pleased to announce this transformative transaction,
which will immediately position the Company as one of the leading
solar manufacturing companies in the U.S. We are proud to be
partnered with Trina Solar, a global manufacturing and solar
technology leader.” commented Daniel Barcelo, FREYR’s newly
appointed Chief Executive Officer. “Domestic manufacturing capacity
for solar and batteries is essential for energy transition and job
creation. The U.S. was once the global leader in solar, and it can
be again.”
Transaction details
Under the terms of the transaction agreement at closing, the
total consideration to Trina Solar will consist of $100 million of
cash, $50 million repayment of an intercompany loan, $150 million
loan note, 9.9% of FREYR outstanding common stock, and an $80
million convertible loan note that would convert into an additional
11.5% of FREYR outstanding common stock after certain conditions
are satisfied. FREYR has secured a $100 million commitment for the
issuance of preferred stock to Encompass Capital Advisors LLC and
$14.8 million for a private placement of 7.0% of FREYR outstanding
common stock to Ms. Chunyan Wu, a co-founder and significant
shareholder of Trina Solar. The funds will be used for general
operational and working capital purposes.
Changes to strengthen FREYR’s management team and Board of
Directors
Daniel Barcelo, FREYR’s current Chairman of the Board, has been
appointed Chief Executive Officer. Tom Einar Jensen, FREYR’s
co-founder, will assume the role of CEO of FREYR Europe and will
oversee the optimization and monetization of FREYR’s European
portfolio. Mr. Jensen is stepping down from FREYR’s Board of
Directors to focus on FREYR’s European portfolio. All these changes
are effective immediately.
Joining FREYR upon closing will be Mingxing Lin, who has been
appointed the Company’s Chief Strategy Officer, and Dave Gustafson,
who has been appointed Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Lin and Mr.
Gustafson bring decades of collective experience in multinational
company management and the solar industry. Mr. Lin has been
appointed a nominee to FREYR’s Board of Directors subject to
closing of the transaction.
W. Richard Anderson has been appointed to FREYR’s Board,
effective immediately. Mr. Anderson is currently the Chief
Executive Officer of Coastline Exploration Ltd., and he brings more
than 25 years of leadership experience in the global energy
industry and more than 15 years as a board member of public and
private energy companies to FREYR.
FREYR provides financial and operational guidance
In anticipation of the closing of the transaction and the start
of solar module production at the Wilmer, Texas facility in Q4
2024, FREYR is initiating 2025 EBITDA guidance of $75 - $125
million and expects to exit 2025 at full-year run rate EBIDTA of
$175 - $225 million.
FREYR European assets
FREYR is implementing a value optimization and monetization
initiative in Europe to align with the Company’s strategy to focus
on vertically integrating the U.S. solar business. As CEO of FREYR
Europe, Tom Einar Jensen will oversee the process.
The Company has terminated its SemiSoldTM technology license
with 24M Technologies (“24M”). Pursuant to the termination of the
24M license agreement, FREYR has no remaining financial obligations
to 24M and no longer holds any equity ownership interest in
24M.
Presentation of Transaction Highlights
A presentation will be held today, November 6, 2025, at 8:00 am
EDT to discuss the transaction. The presentation materials will be
available for download at https://ir.freyrbattery.com.
To access the conference call, listeners should contact the
conference call operator at the appropriate number listed below
approximately 10 minutes prior to the start of the call.
Participant conference call dial-in numbers:
Conference ID 1923230 USA / International Toll +1 (646) 307-1963
USA - Toll-Free (800) 715-9871 Canada - Toronto (647) 932-3411
Canada - Toll-Free (800) 715-9871
Transaction advisors
Santander served as financial advisor, Skadden, Arps, Slate,
Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP served as legal advisor, Arnold &
Porter, Ernst & Young, Clean Energy Associates and Rystad
Energy served as advisors to FREYR in support of the transaction.
Dorsey & Whitney LLP served as U.S. legal advisor, CICC served
as financial advisor and Deloitte served as tax advisor to Trina
Solar.
Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking
Statements
All statements, other than statements of present or historical
fact included in this presentation, including, without limitation,
FREYR Battery, Inc.’s, a Delaware corporation, (“FREYR”) ability to
establish a commercial presence in the U.S. solar market; the
potential benefits of FREYR’s strategic acquisition of Trina Solar
US Holding Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Trina”); the expected
timeline to closing the transaction; FREYR’s ability to secure
financing options for the solar cell manufacturing facility; the
projected start of module production in Q4 2024; the construction
of a solar cell manufacturing facility targeting start of
production in H2 2026; the integration of U.S. solar module and
solar cell capacity; FREYR’s ability to become a top 5 U.S. solar
module producer; any resulting U.S. government incentives for clean
energy technology manufacturing and development; the establishment
of a domestic manufacturing footprint for FREYR’s integrated clean
energy solution business; the creation of 1,500 local jobs; the
integration of U.S. solar and battery energy storage system
manufacturing; the monetization of FREYR’s legacy assets; any
competitive advantages of integration; any potential benefits of
the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act; the technological advantage of
Trina’s modules; and the ability to replicate global supply chains
in the U.S. are forward-looking statements.
These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and
uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ
materially from the expected results. Factors that may cause such
differences include, but are not limited to: (1) the occurrence of
any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to
the termination of the transaction agreement or could otherwise
cause the transaction to fail to close; (2) the outcome of any
legal proceedings that may be instituted against the Company
following the announcement of the transaction; (3) the inability to
complete the transaction, including due to failure to satisfy
conditions to closing of the transaction; (4) any failure to obtain
lender’s consent with respect to project finance prior to closing;
(5) any material liabilities identified post-signing that may lead
to the termination of the transaction agreement; (6) the risk that
the transaction disrupts current plans and operations as a result
of the announcement and consummation of the transaction; (7) the
ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the transaction;
(8) costs related to the transaction; (9) changes in applicable
laws or regulations; (10) the possibility that the Company may be
adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive
factors; (11) any material modifications or repeal of the U.S.
Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”); (12) any enacted legislation that
could limit the ability of companies with a certain percentage of
Chinese ownership to receive tax credits under IRA; (13) any
potential risk that the Chinese equity ownership in the Company may
impact FREYR’s ability to develop a solar cell facility in the
U.S.; (14) any increases to commodity pricing or US tariff and
countervailing duty levels; and (15) potential operational risks
associated with commissioning and ramp-up of production. The
Company cautions that the foregoing list of factors is not
exclusive. Most of these factors are outside FREYR’s control and
are difficult to predict. Additional information about factors that
could materially affect FREYR is set forth under the “Risk Factors”
section in (i) FREYR’s post-effective amendment no. 1 to the
Registration Statement on Form S-3 filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on January 4, 2024, (ii) FREYR’s
Registration Statement on Form S-4 filed with the SEC on September
8, 2023 and subsequent amendments thereto filed on October 13,
2023, October 19, 2023 and October 31, 2023, and (iii) FREYR’s
annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 29, 2024,
and FREYR’s quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on
May 8 and August 9, 2024, and available on the SEC’s website at
www.sec.gov. Except as otherwise required by applicable law, FREYR
disclaims any duty to update any forward-looking statements, all of
which are expressly qualified by the statements in this section, to
reflect events or circumstances after the date of this
presentation. Should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual
results and projections could differ materially from those
expressed in any forward-looking statements.
FREYR intends to use its website as a channel of distribution to
disclose information which may be of interest or material to
investors and to communicate with investors and the public. Such
disclosures will be included on FREYR’s website in the ‘Investor
Relations’ sections. FREYR also intends to use certain social media
channels, including, but not limited to, Twitter and LinkedIn, as
means of communicating with the public and investors about FREYR,
its progress, products and other matters. While not all the
information that FREYR posts to its digital platforms may be deemed
to be of a material nature, some information may be. As a result,
FREYR encourages investors and others interested to review the
information that it posts and to monitor such portions of FREYR’s
website and social media channels on a regular basis, in addition
to following FREYR’s press releases, SEC filings, and public
conference calls and webcasts. The contents of FREYR’s website and
other social media channels shall not be deemed incorporated by
reference in any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241105395960/en/
Investor contact: Jeffrey Spittel Senior Vice President,
Investor Relations and Corporate Development
jeffrey.spittel@freyrbattery.com Tel: (+1) 409 599-5706
Media contact: Amy Jaick Global Head of Communications
amy.jaick@freyrbattery.com Tel: (+1) 973 713-5585
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