Glencore, which is one of Britishvolt’s cornerstone investors, provided less than £5m to the company, people familiar with the matter told the FT. The group has raised enough money for five more weeks of operation, chairman Peter Rolton told the Financial Times, without confirming the source of the new investment. Staff have agreed to take a “significant” pay cut in November to make the money last, while company executives are working without pay for the month, he said. But the deal still leaves the startup, which aims to build a giant £3.8 billion battery factory in Blyth in northeast England, needing to secure long-term financing in the coming weeks or face the renewed prospect of bankruptcy before Christmas. Rolton said she was “confident” that Britishvolt would be able to raise additional funds needed in time. The company is in talks with several potential backers, including two “strategic” industry players and some traditional investors, he added. “We’re continuing, we’re improving the position, but the interest is definitely there,” he said. The company was preparing to enter administration on Monday after running out of cash reserves, but talks with its short-term savior developed during the day. Britishvolt’s current major shareholders include Cathexis – an investment vehicle owned by Texas billionaire William Harrison which owns project contractor ISG – as well as commodities giant Glencore and industrial equipment group Ashtead. Its largest shareholder is founder and former CEO Orral Nadjari. In the UK, Glencore also has plans to convert its lead refinery at Northfleet outside London into a battery recycling site. Production scrap from battery manufacturing plants is the main source of raw material recycling. Glencore’s initial investment in Britishvolt was made by David Brocas, the former head of cobalt trading at the commodities giant who left the company in October. Britishvolt previously said it needed to raise £200m to keep the business afloat until next summer. An administration would likely wipe out unsecured creditors, giving them about five pence in the pound, a person familiar with the business estimated. The company, founded three years ago, developed an in-house battery technology, which it shipped to a handful of automakers in September. But the group is months away from receiving firm orders and has struggled to raise money this year due to collapsing market conditions. The start-up doesn’t expect to start generating significant revenue until the middle of the decade. She relied on investor funding to cover her wages, which are around £3m a month. Potential investment has dried up this year in the wake of market turmoil and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Rolton said one major investor had pulled out just last week, while others were willing to provide funding but held back due to political turmoil in the UK. Recommended In the past seven weeks, while the company has sought additional support from the government, the prime minister has changed twice, as has the business secretary. Rolton, a former government energy adviser, and chief executive Graham Hoare, a former Ford executive, have yet to meet current business secretary Grant Shapps, who has been in his post for a week. Britishvolt’s hopes for immediate financial help from the government were dashed on Monday after Shapps wrote a letter rejecting the company’s appeal for £30m of support. The group had argued it needed the money because it could not access the £100m on offer from the Automotive Transformation Fund until it started work at its Blyth plant.
