Battery maker Britishvolt sheds 96pc of value in rescue deal

A RESCUE deal for Britishvolt has valued the struggling British electric car battery maker at just £32m, 96pc lower than its price tag a year ago.

The dramatic decline in Britishvolt’s valuation is a blow to investors, which include Orral Nadjari, its founder, miner Glencore and power rental company Ashtead, who will have their stakes all but wiped out.

Investors led by Dealab Group, a London-based private equity house controlled by an Indonesian investor, could buy the troubled company, injecting more than £150m of muchneeded capital.

The deal leaves current investors with only £2m of equity in total.

While Britishvolt had made a number of high-profile deals with investors including Abrdn, Tritax and the Government, worth more than £1.7bn, most of the funding was to be unlocked once it had hit certain targets, and last year its financial resources began to run dry.

A request to the Government for early funding was denied and it began to radically reduce costs, including cutting the pay of its staff.

The company said: “Battery technology pioneer Britishvolt is in discussions with a consortium of investors concerning the potential majority sale of the company.”

The company did not comment on the identity of the potential investors.

Other buyers have also been scoping out the company’s Blyth site.

Rival battery makers, including Slovakia’s Inobat, whose chairman is former Aston Martin boss Andy Palmer, are understood to be interested in the location.

The UK’S car industry will need much more capacity in battery making, particularly its smaller, high-end players including Aston Martin and Lotus, both of which have expressed an interest in buying Britishvolt batteries.

Out of Britain’s top four car makers: Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan, Toyota and Mini, only Nissan has built its own local gigafactory to supply batteries for its electric cars.