Sivers Semiconductors Pushes Toward US Listing as Board Pledges 12-Month Holdings After Capital Restructuring

Swedish chipmaker Sivers Semiconductors raises €59M via placement and converts $12M debt, diluting shares. Insiders buy with 12-month lock-up, but photonics chief exits. Short interest drops; stock plummets 54% in 30 days.

Sivers Semiconductors has pulled off several transformative moves this summer that are reshaping its financial profile and governance. The Swedish chipmaker closed a directed share placement worth roughly €59 million in July, while simultaneously converting a $12 million credit line from lender Bootstrap Europe IV SCSp into 22.8 million new shares. The twin actions dilute existing holders but give the company a stronger balance sheet as it pursues a secondary listing in the United States—a process that has pushed the release of second-quarter results back to August 27.

Management has set ambitious financial targets to justify the restructuring. The project pipeline reached $799 million as of May, up 77 percent from earlier levels. Sivers aims to achieve a break-even adjusted EBITDA once quarterly revenue sits between $50 million and $55 million, a milestone it sees as realistic around the turn of 2027/2028. Beyond that, the company forecasts annual revenue growth of 25 to 30 percent.

The board and C-suite have put their own money behind that vision. Five directors—Bami Bastani, Karin Raj, Helena Svancar, Todd Thomson, and Joakim Nideborn—alongside CEO Vickram Vathulya bought shares in a move approved at the June shareholder meeting. All purchases come with a mandatory 12-month holding period, a lock-up that prevents any quick exit. CFO Heine Thorsgaard also holds roughly 100,000 shares and 400,000 options, though both Vathulya and Thorsgaard face a separate trading ban until July 16, after which a window opens just before the delayed quarterly report.

Not every insider is bullish. Andrew McKee, head of the photonics unit, sold his entire stake in the first half of the year—500,000 shares in Q1 and the remaining 515,000 in Q2. The latter disposal occurred as the stock peaked at 101.90 Swedish kronor on that listing, a gain of around 2,350 percent from the start of the year. McKee’s exit contrasts sharply with the board’s recent buying.

Short sellers, meanwhile, are losing interest. According to Affärsvärlden, Sivers no longer ranks among the most-shorted stocks on the Stockholm exchange. Short positions fell to 3.8 percent of share capital by July 14, down from 8.6 percent in mid-May. The top spot in the bearish ranking went to Kinnevik.

The swing in positioning reflects extreme price action. Sivers shares ended Tuesday at €3.82, up 5.71 percent on the week but still 53.75 percent lower than 30 days ago. The 52-week high of €10.23, set on June 3, stands a full 62.70 percent above the current level, while the low of €0.27 from March 3 shows the wild rally that preceded the recent retreat. The 50-day moving average of €6.18 sits well above today’s price, though the 100-day average of €3.79 is near it. The relative strength index of 37.2 points to oversold conditions, but the annualized 30-day volatility of 154.13 percent signals that risk remains extreme. The company’s market capitalization currently stands at €1.25 billion.

For all the turbulence, the insider purchases and the restructuring are designed to align leadership’s interests with long-term shareholders as Sivers pivots toward a US listing. The next big test comes on August 27, when the delayed quarterly numbers will show whether the operational progress matches the board’s confidence.