Australian firm set to rescue gigafactory client

Australian electric-battery manufacturer Recharge is poised to acquire Britishvolt in a rescue deal.

Administrators EY announced in a statement this morning that the majority of the Britishvolt business and most of its assets will be transferred to Recharge and its US parent company Scale Facilitation Partners, if the acquisition is completed as expected by next Monday (13 February).

EY noted that it had received “multiple approaches” for Britishvolt “and numerous offers [were] received”.

A spokesperson for EY told Construction News that no further information on the proposed deal was available, but more details – including sums owed to creditors by Britishvolt’s former owners – will emerge in mid-March when an administrator’s report is due.

“The process now is that we are at a very advanced stage of discussions with the preferred bidder and are taking necessary steps to conclude the transaction,” the spokesperson added.

The proposed value of the deal has not been disclosed.

UK startup Britishvolt fell into administration in mid-January after several months of uncertainty over the future of the business and its plans for a £3.8bn vehicle-battery gigafactory in Northumberland.

Britishvolt – one of CN’s 10 companies to watch this year – appointed ISG to deliver the facility under a £300m design-and-build contract in December 2020. ISG chief executive William Harrison joined the Britishvolt board as a non-executive director four months later.

Completion of the gigafactory on a 95-hectare brownfield site was originally scheduled for 2023 but ISG paused work on the site in August 2022.

David Collard, managing partner and CEO of Scale Facilitation and founder of Recharge Industries, said he “can’t wait to get started making a reality of our plans to build the UK’s first gigafactory”.

A spokesperson for ISG said that the contractor would be interested in discussions with the prospective buyer if contact has not already been made.

“That [gigafactory] project is something very important to us as a business. We’d welcome the opportunity to continue delivering the project,” the spokesperson said, adding: “If speed to construction and speed to market are the key elements [for the new owners], the obvious thing to do is go with the previous contractor that has detailed site knowledge and has built up the supply chain.”

However, when asked by CN, a spokesperson for Scale Facilitation would not say whether ISG would be kept on as main contractor.