Freyr Battery to acquire U.S. solar manufacturing assets of Trina for $340M

FREYR Battery (FREY) has announced that the Company has entered into an agreement to acquire the U.S. solar manufacturing assets of 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 and internal reorganization to be completed by Trina Solar and is expected to close around year end 2024. FREYR is acquiring 5 GW, 1.35M square foot solar module manufacturing facility in Wilmer, Texas that started production on November 1. Total consideration to Trina Solar of $340M, comprised of $100M of cash, $50M repayment of an intercompany loan, $150M 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 $100M commitment for the issuance of preferred stock issuance to Encompass Capital Advisors and $14.8M through a private placement of FREYR common stock. Daniel Barcelo, FREYR’s Chairman of the Board of Directors, assumes role of CEO of FREYR with immediate effect and Evan Calio will remain CFO. Subject to closing of the transaction, Mingxing Lin will be appointed Chief Strategy Officer and Dave Gustafson will be appointed COO 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. 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.