(Reuters) -Recharge Industries Pty Ltd’s attempt to buy the Britishvolt site is at risk of collapsing due to a dispute with administrator EY over a power supply contract signed by the failed battery startup, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
Australia-based Recharge Industries and the British accounting firm hit an impasse over payments related to transferring a grid connection contract with the UK’s National Grid, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
EY, Britishvolt and Recharge Industries did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Recharge Industries, a unit of New York-based investment fund Scale Facilitation, was picked by EY as the preferred bidder to buy Britishvolt in February, after the struggling UK startup failed to raise enough funding for a major electric vehicle battery factory in northern England.
Recharge Industries bought Britishvolt’s intellectual property for 8.6 million pounds ($10.61 million) last month, but is yet to pay the 9.7 million pounds for the land despite passing of the deadline, the FT report added.
($1 = 0.8108 pounds)
(Reporting by Rahat Sandhu in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
