Troubled Thurso-based battery cell developer AMTE Power has announced its intention to appoint administrators and request the suspension of trading in its shares on AIM.
In November, AMTE Power had announced a complex conditional subscription agreement to raise £2.5 million at 1.7p per ordinary share from Pinnacle International Venture Capital Ltd, a newly incorporated entity managed by private equity firm Pinnacle International Capital Corp.
AMTE went public at £1.75 per share in March 2021 and quickly rose as high as £3.14 — but its shares have since fallen more than 99%.
The firm was founded in 2013 and is a developer and manufacturer of lithium-ion and sodium-ion battery cells for specialist markets.
AMTE Power’s purpose-built cell manufacturing facility in Thurso had the second largest cell manufacturing capacity in the UK and the company also had a product development team based in Oxford.
The company’s proposed gigafactory in Dundee would have been capable of producing over eight million battery cells per annum.
In a stock exchange statement, AMTE Power said: “Further to its announcement of the proposed Subscription, Placing and Convertible Loan Facility on 16 November 2023, AMTE Power Plc, a leading developer and manufacturer of lithium-ion and sodium-ion battery cells for specialist markets, regrets to announce that:
“… Pinnacle has extended the long stop date for completion of the Subscription Agreement from 20 December 2023 until 12 January 2024 as a result of a delay in receipt of its advisers’ due diligence report and the holiday period, and
” … while the company has served a drawdown notice, Pinnacle has declined to advance funds under the Convertible Loan Facility.
“The board has no other options to secure finance in the time available and has therefore concluded that the company has insufficient funds to continue trading and intends to appoint FRP Advisory as administrator of the company.
“In the interim, FRP Advisory will manage an accelerated sale process to seek potential buyers of the business and assets of the company.
“The board has therefore requested that the company’s ordinary shares be suspended from trading on AIM.
“WH Ireland Limited will resign as nominated adviser to the company upon the appointment of an administrator.
“If the company fails to appoint a replacement nominated adviser within one month of the date that its ordinary shares are suspended from trading on AIM, the admission of the ordinary shares to trading on AIM will be cancelled.
“As a consequence of the above, the board intends to adjourn indefinitely the general meeting of the company convened to be held on 20 December 2023.
“Capitalised terms not defined in this announcement shall have the meaning given to them in the previous announcement, unless the context otherwise demands.
“A further announcement will be made in due course.”