Northumberland battery firm Britishvolt in talks over majority sale
The start-up said it could keep functioning in the long term by offloading a majority stake in the business to a group of investors.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Troubled electric car battery maker Britishvolt has said it is in talks with investors over a possible sale, to keep the firm afloat after it came close to collapse last year.
It said in a statement on Monday: “Britishvolt is in discussions with a consortium of investors concerning the potential majority sale of the company.
“The discussions aim to secure legally binding terms that would provide Britishvolt with the long-term sustainability and funding necessary to enable it to pursue its current plans to build a strong and viable battery cell R&D and manufacturing business in the UK.”
The Government-backed start-up has been developing a £3.8 billion gigafactory in Blyth, Northumberland, and received tens of millions of pounds of financial backing from metals giant Glencore.
But it fell into emergency funding talks in November after revealing it was close to entering administration, and managed to secure funding to keep it afloat in the short term.
A sale would mean Britishvolt could continue with the development of the factory, until it can begin making money from selling its batteries to carmakers.
Its existing employees, of which there are around 300, agreed to a voluntary salary cut for November to help reduce costs, it had said.
There were no details in the statement on Monday of the identity of the investors involved, or how much the sale could be worth.
The firm added that it, and the consortium of investors, would provide further details at the “appropriate time”.