Aussie buyer of Britishvolt fails to pay up, administrators say
The Australian company which was supposedly meant to buy failed battery start-up Britishvolt has missed the deadline to pay for the business.
Filings from administrators at EY said the final instalment of a nearly £8.6m payment, which was due on April 5, was still outstanding.
EY said that the buyer, Recharge Industries, had defaulted on its agreement to buy the business, which was meant to build a massive battery factory in the north east of England.
“The sale to the buyer had not completed as the final amount of deferred consideration was due to be paid on 5 April 2023,” the report from EY to creditors last week 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.”
It 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.”
The report showed the Britishvolt likely 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 which was meant to supply around 100m (£86 million) worth of electrode manufacturing gear to the British start-up.
Korea’s Hana Technology, which also had an agreement to supply Britishvolt, was owed £22.3m, while mining giant Glencore, an investor, was owed £20m.
The taxman is also hoping to get around £3m, largely in income tax and VAT, that the business owes to the exchequer.
The administrators 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.
Press Association – August Graham