Another blow for Geelong businessman David Collard as Britishvolt purchase falls through
The turbulent times of Geelong businessman David Collard continue, with the former high-flyer encountering another setback less than two months after he fronted a New York court.
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Elusive Geelong businessman David Collard has been dealt another blow with his multimillion-dollar play for a UK company snubbed in favour of a US investment giant.
Mr Collard and his Recharge Production company last year entered into a deal to buy lithium-ion battery maker Britishvolt from its administrators EY for £6.1 ($11.8m).
But when the former St Joseph’s College student failed to stump up the final £2.5 ($4.8m) instalment, negotiations with other parties commenced.
In February, EY said Recharge “continued to remain in default of the business sale agreement”.
US private equity firm Blackstone this week signed a £20m ($38.8m) contract for the 235-acre Blyth site, which it intends to transform into one of the largest data centre facilities in Western Europe.
“This transaction ensures that a well-funded and respected new owner can bring the enterprise and employment to the site that it deserves, and will be a huge boost for the whole (Northumberland) region,” Bob Maxwell of the Begbies Traynor Group said.
Begbies Traynor managed the sale of Britishvolt’s property assets, whereas EY ran the sales process for the business.
In a further hit to the once high-flying executive, a petition to wind up Recharge Production will be heard in London’s High Court of Justice on May 1.
The wind up demand was launched by Tom Cowling, a former Britishvolt board member, amid claims of unpaid wages.
Additionally, The Telegraph reported last month that two UK employment tribunal judgments ordered Recharge to pay £240,000 ($465,000) to former employees for “unlawfully” failing to pay wages.
Recharge failed to file a response in each case, The Telegraph reported.
Mr Collard’s plans for the Britishvolt site largely mirrored those he had spruiked for his Australian entity and fellow Scale Facilitation subsidiary, Recharge Industries.
Under those plans, a site at Avalon Airport’s industrial precinct was to become home to a battery-cell “gigafactory” that would create thousands of jobs and generate 30GWh hours of storage capacity by 2028.
This was despite no lease being signed for the site and many staff going unpaid.
Mr Collard has kept an uncharacteristically low profile in recent months, other than for a New York court hearing in February where he struck a deal to have assault and harassment charges against him dropped in exchange for completing anger management classes.
The charges stemmed from a November 2023 incident in which Mr Collard allegedly punched a man in the face.
He claimed he was defending a female friend who was “experiencing harassment”.
Mr Collard at the time said he was “advanced in finding a solution” to pay months of wages owed to staff.
His comments came soon after a liquidation report of another Scale subsidiary, Sanitex Global, found company records were “not a true and correct reflection” of its financial position and that Mr Collard had not responded to requests for further information.
Sanitex claimed to have $1.2bn in assets when it collapsed in November but Worrells’ Scott Anderson was unable to find a cent.
“It’s hard to fathom the trail of destruction,” one former employee said.
Mr Anderson said his inquiries were ongoing.
A Serious Financial Crime Taskforce – a multi-agency group that includes representatives from the federal police and tax office – investigation into allegations of tax fraud by Sanitex is ongoing.
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Originally published as Another blow for Geelong businessman David Collard as Britishvolt purchase falls through
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