New concerns over Britishvolt’s plans to build a £3bn-plus gigafactory in Northumberland have emerged after receivers were appointed to one of the company’s subsidiaries.
Documents have been filed at Companies House showing that investment group Katch Fund Solutions has obtained an order to appoint two specialists from consultancy Begbies Traynor Group to Power By Britishvolt Properties Limited. Katch Fund Solutions – part of the Katch Investment Group which has bases in London, Panama, Luxembourg, Douglas, Sao Paulo and Zurich – secured the document on November 3, triggering the appointment of Bob Maxwell and Julian Pitt of Begbies Traynor’s Leeds office.
They have become receivers of part of the Blyth Power Station property. Their appointment comes just over a year after documents were filed showing how Katch Fund Solutions agreed to purchase bonds issued by Britishvolt on the terms of a subscription agreement. The appointment of the receivers comes as the planned project seeks funding after being beset by financial issues in recent months.
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Last week it was reported that Lazard, financial advisors to Britishvolt, had been given five weeks to find a buyer for the Northumberland gigafactory. The firm currently has 300 employees on its books, who have taken a voluntary pay cut. As concerns increase on the project, Business Secretary Grant Shapps has insisted Government funds for the project are still on the table, but that milestones would have to be met before the company can draw down. The Government had pledged £100m, of which Britishvolt wanted to draw down £30m.
Short term funding – believed to be from investor Glencore – was confirmed by the company, giving it security for a few weeks, but Britishvolt’s chairman Peter Rolton told BusinessLive he was confident that negotiations with backers would result in good news. He said: “We’ve had a lot of discussions started which were previously, frankly, stalled – where they said ‘we’re out, we love you dearly but not at the moment’ – they’re now coming back to the table. I’m confident we’ll get somewhere.”
A spokesman for Britishvolt said: “Britishvolt is aware that its only secured creditor, Katch Fund Solutions, has taken action to protect its position by appointing an LPA Receiver over the assets of its subsidiary, Power By Britishvolt Properties Ltd., namely a minority debt interest in the land owned by Britishvolt.
“Britishvolt, Katch Fund Solutions and the appointed LPA Receiver are engaged in positive discussions with the intention of refinancing a payout to the secured creditor within the coming weeks.”
A spokeswoman for Katch Investment Group said: "The Katch Group continue to actively work together with the management of the Company to support a full refinancing of the Katch facility."
Bob Maxwell of Begbies Traynor said: “We have been appointed as fixed charged receiver over some of Britishvolt’s land and property in order to protect the secured lender. The appointment is not connected to Britishvolt’s current refinancing process, and does not cover any of the company’s trading assets.”
Ian Lavery, Labour MP for Wansbeck, said: “I have spoken to the chairman of Britishvolt this morning to seek clarification on these documents. He assured me that this only refers to a subsidiary of Britishvolt rather than the main company itself and that Britishvolt are not in administration. I understand that this story may be alarming to people given the developments at Britishvolt of the past few weeks and months.
“Only yesterday I spoke in Parliament challenging the government over their lack of financial support for Britishvolt that was promised which has put the future of the company, and with it thousands of well-paid local jobs for my constituents, at risk. Despite this, neither government minister even once mentioned Britishvolt throughout the debate on the future of our automotive industry.
“Britishvolt was once the crown jewel of this government’s levelling up policy but now their abandonment of the company and of our region is not even allowed to be mentioned across the front benches.”
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