BNR – The proposal of a new battery plant in Northumberland has been hampered after Australian authorities investigated the purchase of Britishvolt.
Over potential tax evasion, investigators resorted to the offices of Scale Facilitation and SaniteX, both managed by Australian businessman David Collard.
After Britishvolt went bankrupt this year, Recharge Industries, a subsidiary of Scale Facilitation, purchased it.
However, it has failed to pay for a potential plant location near the Port of Blyth.
Collard claims that the tax investigation results from confusion about how US and Australian tax filings operate. Collard, a former partner at the accounting firm PwC, indicated that everybody was working together.
Scale Facilitation, a New York-based investment fund with headquarters in Australia, owns and runs Recharge Industries.
After Britishvolt went bankrupt, Recharge Industries purchased its assets. This happened despite the public support of leaders such as former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Uncertainty Surrounds Future of £4 Billion Plant of Britishvolt
Britishvolt intended to construct a £4 billion factory at Cambois, near Blyth, Northumberland. The factory will produce batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) and will employ around 3,000 people.
However, the firm battled to turn a profit and lost a lot of cash in early 2023.
The time limit for Recharge Industries to finalize and pay for the acquisition of the Northumberland location has been pushed well past the intended date of 31 March.
According to sources, workers in Australia have been underpaid for almost two weeks. They did, however, emphasize that these payments were finally delivered.
They stated that the firm was still hopeful that it will be able to get the finance necessary to finalize the acquisition of the location near Blyth within the next month.
According to the BBC, Recharge’s founders are still confident that the agreement to build the £4 billion site would go as planned.
Recharge is likely to buy a minority stake in the new North East Gigafactory Development LLP. The minority stake will be held by reputable shareholders Tritax and Abrdn.
The site’s primary goal for Recharge was to create battery storage equipment instead of batteries for EVs.
