Britishvolt, the company looking to build an electric vehicle battery 'gigafactory' in north-east England, has reportedly secured an emergency financial rescue package.
A plea to the government for early payment of £30mln was rejected by Grant Shapps' business department yesterday as the £100mln set aside for the startup through the Automotive Transformation Fund is only available in staged payments as development of its £3.8bn factory in Northumberland reaches certain milestones.
It was reported overnight by the BBC that the company had secured cash to stay afloat in the short term, but the backers were not revealed.
A Britishvolt spokesman said he could not confirm or deny the story.
The company is reported to have held talks with potential investors or buyers including Jaguar Land Rover owner Tata Motors, as well as Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA).
Yesterday Britishvolt was thought to be considering entering administration with the potential loss of almost 300 jobs, with reports in the Guardian suggesting that accountants from EY had been lined up.
Since being set up in 2019, the company has drummed up £200mln, including investments from FTSE 100-listed groups Glencore PLC and Ashtead Group PLC (LSE:AHT) (Ashtead Group PLC (LSE:AHT)) and the staged government payments.
But with high energy costs and rising interest rates blamed for disrupting development, in August the company said its factory at Blyth would not be ready to produce EV batteries until 2025, two years later than its original plans.
But the company added that it was still on course to supply sample cells to customers this year.