Britishvolt heads for crunch meeting
UK battery gigafactory developer Britishvolt is holding a key board meeting tomorrow (Friday 13th January) that will determine the future of the business.
The struggling startup had avoided calling in administrators in December, and has reportedly received a deal to rescue the company from a little know investment company with links to Indonesia.
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The £30m offer values the operations, which include a pilot line in the West Midlands and a site at Blyth in Northumberland, at just £32m, a small fraction of the previous valuations of over £1bn.
If successful, the offer from the DeaLab Group would see £128m of funding to continue development of battery cells at the pilot line to be tested by customers. This would aim to unlock £100m of additional grant funding from the UK government to start building the factory in Blyth.
However a group of current investors are tabling a rival bid with similar amounts to be discussed at the board meeting.
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The company has struggled to gain commitments from car makers for its battery cells without tested samples. In November it raised £5m from existing shareholder, mining firm Glencore, to continue operations in the short term.
It said it was in talks to sell a majority of the business, and would provide further details at the appropriate time.
