The battery startup Britishvolt owed as much as GBP120m to creditors when it collapsed last week in a major blow to hopes of sustaining the British car industry, The Guardian reported.
The UK paper said creditors were expected to recover a very small proportion of the debts although there were understood to be several bids for the company and its assets. EY, a professional services firm, is handling the administration.
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EY is hoping to find a buyer for the remainder of the business – which has 26 staff remaining on its payroll – and the ownership of the site in Northumberland. The deadline for initial offers for the Britishvolt assets was Tuesday evening.
The report noted Britishvolt had been hailed by the former prime minister Boris Johnson as an “electric vehicle battery pioneer”, and was seen – in the absence of many more established rivals – as a flagship project for the government. Attracting battery production was seen as key to retaining automotive industry jobs and the government promised to give Britishvolt GBP100m in funding if it could meet milestones related to equipment purchases.
The Guardian said Britishvolt had received support from FTSE 100 companies Glencore, Ashtead and Abrdn’s subsidiary Tritax. However, it ran out of cash before it could build its factory, amid revelations of profligate spending.
Several companies had expressed a preliminary interest in the company or its assets. Tata, the Indian conglomerate that owns JLR, has also considered purchasing the site. DeaLab, a little-known Indonesia-linked private equity firm, put in an offer for the company before it went into administration.
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By GlobalDataRecharge Industries, an Australian startup, has publicly expressed an interest in buying assets from the administration. The company, run by a 38-year-old former employee of PwC, a professional services firm, is also trying to build a battery factory in Geelong in southern Australia.
EY declined to comment to The Guardian and to provide a list of Britishvolt’s creditors until it publishes its administrator’s report in six or seven weeks’ time. EY has said it would not vote in creditor resolutions, after confirming that it is itself one of the smaller creditors after carrying out consultancy work for Britishvolt.
