Power by Britishvolt - Case Update

It appears that the saga involving collapsed startup lithium-ion battery manufacturer Britishvolt is nearing an end, with joint administrators Joanne Robinson, Alan Hudson and Daniel Hurd of EY filing their final progress report in the administration and providing notice to creditors that the company is being moved to a creditors’ voluntary liquidation.

We’ve been covering this matter since Britishvolt — which had planned to build a £3.8bn gigafactory in North East England — entered voluntary administration in January 2023. Shortly afterwards, it was announced that the company had been acquired by Recharge Production UK, a subsidiary of Scale Facilitation Partners, for approximately £8.6 million.

However, the final instalment of over £2 million was never paid and a former employee of Recharge was ultimately able to convince the Court to wind up the company in May 2024.

Now, Britishvolt is being moved to a CVL to enable a distribution to unsecured creditors, with Diana Frangou and Christopher Lewis of RSM acting as liquidators.

Meanwhile, Northumberland County Council took back control of what was meant to be the site of the gigafactory and sold it to American investment company Blackstone for £110m. Blackstone reportedly intends to convert the site to a campus of data centres.

The joint administrators’ final progress report can be found here. They have been assisted by Dentons.