Caithness business leader hopes battery factory sale will bring stability
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
North business leader Trudy Morris has said she hopes the sale of Thurso's battery factory will bring stability and peace of mind to its employees.
Twenty jobs have been saved as a result of a deal that ensures battery cell manufacturing will continue in the town.
AMTE Power went into administration earlier this month after experiencing financial difficulties. A deal with Dutch-owned LionVolt Ltd secured the Caithness jobs, although the remaining 15 staff, in Oxfordshire, have been made redundant.
Ms Morris, the chief executive of Caithness Chamber of Commerce, said: “It has been a worrying time for the employees with so much uncertainty hanging over them over several months.
"We are hopeful this sale to LionVolt means the jobs, expertise and site in Thurso will be safeguarded and developed for the future, giving employees the stability, confidence and peace of mind they need, while retaining the immense expertise of battery cell innovation and research in the region.”
AMTE Power was founded in 2013 and became a leading UK developer and manufacturer of lithium-ion and sodium-ion battery cells for specialist markets.
Specialist advisory firm FRP announced the deal on Friday. LionVolt Ltd is a subsidiary of LionVolt BV, based in Eindhoven – described as "a battery innovator that develops ‘3D’ solid-state batteries that aim to deliver high performance, fast charging, safety and sustainability".
FRP pointed out that in June 2023 AMTE Power notified investors of its continuing efforts to raise additional finance to support its development of battery cell technology.
"Whilst these efforts attracted some interest, delays in concluding a subscription agreement to raise rescue funds necessitated the commencement of a parallel accelerated M&A [mergers and acquisitions] process as a contingency to secure a future for the business. A multidisciplinary team comprising restructuring and corporate finance professionals from FRP was duly engaged.
"Due to continued delays in securing the necessary rescue funding and mounting financial pressures, the company announced on December 19 that it had had no alternative but to file a notice of intention to appoint administrators. A subsequent notice was filed on January 8 to allow efforts to continue in earnest on the parallel strategies.
"With escalating cash pressures, the company subsequently had no alternative but to seek the protection of administration. Richard Bloomfield, Ian Corfield and Michelle Elliott of FRP were appointed on January 19 and, on January 25, the administrators completed the sale of the business and assets of its battery cell manufacture and production business in Thurso to LionVolt."
FRP confirmed that the deal enables the battery production facility at Thurso to be repurposed for producing LionVolt’s batteries and includes the transfer of 20 jobs based in Thurso. It added: "Regrettably, the remaining 15 staff at Milton, England, have been made redundant."
Mr Bloomfield, director at FRP and joint administrator of AMTE Power, said: “The acquisition by LionVolt presented the best opportunity to secure jobs and fulfil our statutory duties to creditors.
"The transaction follows an exhaustive sales process and search for new investment. Critically, it preserves a large number of jobs and provides a continuation of battery cell manufacturing in Scotland. We wish the team at LionVolt all the best for the future.
“We are working with the impacted staff at the AMTE Power site in Milton and will support them in their claims to the Redundancy Payments Service.”
A proposed AMTE factory in Dundee was expected to be capable of producing over eight million battery cells a year, and create more than 200 jobs.
