Stockholm (NordSIP) – Stegra, the company previously known as H2 Green Steel (H2GS), has recently come under scrutiny by the press as it appears to be spiralling into financial trouble. The company, which is building a giga-scale green hydrogen plant as an integrated part of a steel production facility in northern Sweden, has been plagued by delays.
Now, reports of limited liquidity, recent funding rounds and a departing Chairman appear to have caused financial markets to speculate about the viability of the company, not unlike what happened to Northvolt.
Running Out of Cash?
Speculation about the financial health of the company appears to have been triggered by a report from the Financial Times according to which Stegra was spending close to SEK3 billion per month, which raised the spectre of the company running out of money.
A report from Swedish state broadcaster SVT noted that Citi Bank had adjusted its exposure to Stegra by requalifying its claims under “special measures”. The same report notes that when the company returned to the market earlier this week, it was seeking SEK10 billion in additional funding.
At the start of the week, following this funding round, Stegra announced a change in its board leadership, as Harald Mix had been replaced as Chairman of the Board by Shaun Kingsbury, Co-Founding Partner and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Just Climate, a climate fund. While Stegra’s press release did not address the reasons for Mix downgrade to a simple member of the board, reports have argued that the change in the Board’s leadership reflects the fact that Just Climate is now the largest investor in Stegra.
Production Delays
Stegra’s 2021 original plan was to build a green steel plant in Boden-Luleå, northern Sweden, which would start production in 2025 and have annual production capacity of five million tons of high-quality steel by 2030. However, as of June 2025, the production facility in Boden still did not appear to be complete, with Stegra announcing it was still installing central electrolysers from Thyssenkrupp Nucera, which use alkaline water electrolysis to split water into hydrogen and oxygen using 100% renewable electricity, producing more than 100,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually.
When Stegra went back to financial markets for its latest financing round at the start of October, the project seemed to only be slightly over half way through. “We have progressed more than 60% of the project and have clear visibility and a detailed plan for the full runway up to completion, including a timeline extension of three months to accommodate for the additional scope. We will now continue to advance the project with the additional strength that will be provided by this new financing round,” CEO Henrik Henriksson said on that occasion.
According to SVT, production of green steel has now been postponed to late 2026 or early 2027.
Investor Commitments and Customers
As of January 2024, Stegra reported having secured €4.2 billion and €2.1 billion worth of debt and equity financing, respectively. Investors include Demeter, Scania AB , SMS Group GmbH ,Vargas, Kingspan, FAM, Marcegaglia, IMAS Foundation, Cristina Stenbeck and Daniel Ek and Altor.
Beyond investors’ commitments, Stegra has also received extensive support from public funds. The Swedish Export Credit Corporation (SEK) invested €500 million in 2023. In December 2023, the Swedish National Debt Office (Riksgälden) announced a €1.2 billion credit guarantee covering 80% of a loan by a consortium of banks and credit institutions. The Swedish Energy Agency also granted Stegra SEK1.2 billion in state aid in 2024. The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) also announced €371 million in funding in January 2024. The EIB announced €314 million, of which €200 backed by a guarantee from the European Commission under the InvestEU programme, and €114 million of intermediated financing to be provided through commercial banks participating in the project financing. NIB provided €57 million to the project finance package, of which €9 million supported under InvestEU. Furthermore, Stegra also reported being awarded a €250 million grant from the EU Innovation Fund at the end of January 2024.
In January 2024, NordSIP reported that Stegra (then still H2GS) had signed term sheets or supply agreements for steel with customers such as Adient, BE Group, BILSTEIN GROUP, BMW Group, Electrolux, Kingspan, Klöckner & Co, Lindab, Marcegaglia, Mercedes-Benz, Miele, Mubea, Purmo Group, Roba Metals, Scania, Schaeffler AG, Zekelman Industries and ZF Group. H2GS changed its name to Stegra at the start of September 2024.
Stegra is not the only company seeking to produce decarbonised steel. SSAB, mining company LKAB and Vattenfall launched HYBRIT in 2017. Media reports have already started speculating that HYBRIT could be interested in stepping in and taking over should Stegra go bankrupt.
