Britishvolt - whose high-profile plan to build a battery factory near Blyth in Northumberland crashed before it started - is on the brink of being taken over by an Australian firm which say it wants to build a similar factory of its own.

Recharge Industries was selected by auditors for Britishvolt as the preferred bidder to take over the majority of the business.

EY said that it had considered “multiple approaches”, but had decided to choose Recharge. The deal is expected to finalise within the next few days.

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Recharge Industries founder David Collard said: “We’re thrilled to be progressing with our proposed bid for Britishvolt and can’t wait to get started making a reality of our plans to build the UK’s first gigafactory.

“After a competitive and rigorous process, we’re confident our proposal will deliver a strong outcome for all involved.”

Recharge, which was founded in 2022, hopes to build a gigafactory of its own close to Melbourne in Australia, but the company is still in the early days of the project.

“EY is pleased to announce that the Joint Administrators have entered into an agreement with Scale Facilitation Partners LLC and its indirectly wholly owned subsidiary Recharge Industries Pty Ltd to be the preferred bidder in acquiring the majority of the business and assets of Power by Britishvolt Limited,” the auditors said in a short statement this morning.

“This follows a process conducted by EY that involved the consideration of multiple approaches from interested parties and numerous offers received.

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“Completion of the acquisition is expected to occur within the next seven days.”

Britishvolt collapsed last month, laying off most of its 300 staff.

The business had high ambitions of building a nearly £4 billion battery plant in Cambois and hopes had been high for the start-up, but it never managed to secure enough funding for the project.

However experts say that the site which Britishvolt bought in the North East is a great location for a battery factory.