California-based lithium sulfur developer Lyten is a preferred bidder for the business of Norway’s Morrow Batteries and its subsidiaries Morrow Technologies and the Morrow Industrialization Center, which filed for bankruptcy last May.

Lyten has confirmed it signed a memorandum of understanding on August 21 for a proposed deal to acquire Morrow, an LFP and high-voltage LNMO-X tech developer, as a going concern.

The MOU was agreed with the bankruptcy estates, acting through court-appointed bankruptcy administrator, Christian Bohne, and Innovation Norway as secured creditor. 

Bohne said: “The bankruptcy estates and Innovation Norway have conducted a structured sales process and negotiated with several interested parties. Based on that process, they have decided to proceed with Lyten as preferred bidder, with the objective of preserving values and pursuing a going-concern solution for the business.”

The deal would secure around 70 jobs through the autumn, with the eventual objective of securing several hundred jobs and supporting suppliers of materials and services, Bohne said. 

No timeline for a completion of the agreement was given, but Bohne warned that “other circumstances” outside the control of the parties to the proposal still had to be met. “Although we do not yet know whether those circumstances can be met, I am optimistic about Lyten’s ability to execute.”

Meanwhile, Lyten CEO and co-founder Dan Cook said the company is evaluating Morrow’s site as a potential industrial hub, combining battery manufacturing, upstream and downstream activities in the energy storage value chain, plus other industrial activities to support a range of critical industries.

Lyten’s investment in the Nordic battery sector was spurred last March, when the company completed its $5 billion takeover of Northvolt Sweden.