Bids Sought For Britishvolt At Last Minute - Texas Today

There is hope that a last-minute bid will save Britishvolt, a company that wants to build a factory to make batteries for electric cars.

People who know about the situation said that “a British consortium” might be the new bidder.

The manufacturer is having money problems and has called a meeting for Monday afternoon with all its employees.

Shareholders have been voting on who should take over the project to build a £4 billion battery plant in Northumberland.

In the Port of Blyth, there were already two bids for the project. One was from an investment group with ties to Indonesia with a dormant subsidiary in the UK and no experience making things. The other came from a small group of existing investors who didn’t want to see the value of their shares completely wiped out.

People think it would cost about £30 million to buy out a company.

If none of the bidders can get 75% of the shareholders to back them, the company will run out of money and go bankrupt. This was almost what happened at the end of last year, but the big commodity trading company Glencore stepped in to save the day.

Industry watchers are upset that an important plant is putting the future of making cars in this country in jeopardy in this way.

The plant was also seen as part of the government’s “leveling up” plan, which aimed to make places like Northumberland more prosperous and help keep the UK’s supply chains stable.

Even if this new bidder wins, it’s unlikely that customers will buy prototype battery technology from a company with no track record.

People close to the situation have said in private that they are surprised and upset that the government hasn’t done more to shape the outcome of such an important project…Read more

Source — Texas Today