Britishvolt, is the startup company proposing to establish a lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility, a gigafactory, in North East England. The project kickstarted in 2019 and various locations were scouted before Blyth, Northumberland was selected. Construction of the £2.6BN gigifactory commenced in 2021 but stopped less than a year later as funding dried up. Britishvolt was valued at £770M, as of today it has a value of £30M as investors gather around its crumbling edifice to sweep up what they can.

The remains of Britishvolt are up for grabs, an Indonesian-based investment consortium is leading a £30M bid to bail out the company. The consortium is represented by DeaLab Group a barely known UK-based private equity firm which is acting as a front for the group of Indonesian investors.

A matching counterbid was recently submitted by three early-stage investors in Britishvolt. However, the Britishvolt board is keen to recommend the DeaLab offer and is urging investors to accept the deal. Shareholders include FTSE 100 corporations, private equity, early-stage/small investors and employees.

Discussions between DeaLab and Britishvolt commenced late last year, the proposed deal is to provide an initial £30M in funding followed by another £128M a year later. The government will also provide an additional £100M, but only when production targets have been met.

Britishvolt has signed agreements with Lotus Cars and Aston Martin to provide lithium-ion batteries for their future electric vehicles.