German battery maker Varta files insolvency applications
Germany’s historic battery manufacturer Varta has lodged four insolvency applications with the Stuttgart Local Court covering the parent firm Varta AG and its subsidiaries Varta Microbattery GmbH, Varta Micro Production GmbH and Varta Storage GmbH. The filings do not signal an immediate halt to production; the company seeks a self‑administration restructuring that would keep operations running, particularly the profitable consumer‑battery unit, which is being kept outside the insolvency process.
Varta attributes its financial distress to a combination of a weakened market, lower demand, adverse exchange‑rate effects and the loss of its key client Apple, which has decided to source the CoinPower button cells for AirPods from Chinese suppliers. Creditors led by Deutsche Bank and several investment funds are eyeing a sale of the consumer‑battery business, while major shareholder Michael Tojner is interested in acquiring the micro‑battery segment. The company employs about 3,260 people; the Nördlingen plant will close in autumn, cutting roughly 350 jobs. The restructuring may lead to a split of the group into separate businesses.