The Britishvolt site in Cambois, near Blyth, Northumberland, via PAThe Britishvolt site in Cambois, near Blyth, Northumberland, via PA

News

Britishvolt’s would-be rescuer still hasn’t made final payment, say administrators

  • Recharge Industries has defaulted on business sale agreement
  • Britishvolt’s administrators tell creditors last payment due on April 5 was missed
  • Sale to Australian firm has not completed as a result
  • Employees are owed some £279,000

Time 10:43 am, August 9, 2023

The Australian company that had said it would buy failed battery factory start-up Britishvolt has missed the deadline to pay for it.

Recharge Industries’ final instalment of the near-£8.6m total that was due on April 5 is still outstanding, according to filings from administrators at EY.

‘The sale to the buyer had not completed as the final amount of deferred consideration was due to be paid on 5 April 2023,’  a report last week from EY to creditors said.


‘As detailed earlier in this report, this amount remains outstanding and as a result, the joint administrators have had to spend a greater amount of time than anticipated in taking steps to preserve and recover this amount.’

The report added: ‘As noted in the proposals, the buyer purchased the company’s business and assets for £8.57 million.

‘This amount was payable in a number of instalments. The final instalment remains unpaid and overdue. As a result, the buyer is in default of the business sale agreement.’


According to the report, Britishvolt – which planned to build a gigafactory in Cambois, near Blyth in Northumberland – probably owed somewhere between £130m and £160m when it went out of business.

The biggest debt, of around £26.7m, is to DC Energy – a company that was meant to supply around 100m euros (£86m) of electrode manufacturing gear to the British start-up.

South Korea’s Hana Technology, which also had an agreement to supply Britishvolt, was owed £22.3m, while mining giant investor Glencore was owed £20m.

The taxman is also hoping to get around £3m, largely in income tax and VAT, that the business owes the exchequer.

The administrators have managed to raise around £74,000 from selling off Britishvolt’s IT equipment and a further £77,000 by selling three vehicles used by staff.

Employees are owed around £279,000, the administrators at EY said.

John Bowman's avatar

John has been with Car Dealer since 2013 after spending 25 years in the newspaper industry as a reporter then a sub-editor/assistant chief sub-editor on regional and national titles. John is chief sub-editor in the editorial department, working on Car Dealer, as well as handling social media.



More stories...

Advert
Server 108