Battery manufacturer Amte Power has confirmed plans for commercial production of cells at its Thurso headquarters next year after it raised £5 million in bond funding from an institutional asset manager.
The firm signed a non-binding heads of terms (roadmap) to enter into a proposed convertible bond facility with Arena Investors.
The facility would give the company the financial capability to secure production contracts for a range of cells to be produced at Thurso and the UK Battery Industrialisation centre (UKBIC), a £130 million a research centre based in Coventry.
The proposed facility follows the recent signing of a contract with UKBIC announced on October 6, to produce 60,000 of the company’s six-minute re-chargeable “ultra high power” cells per year for the next two years.
It means Amte will be able to deliver its first ultra high power cells in sufficient scale for automotive industry customers to progress to in-vehicle trials as they move away from traditional fuels.
London-listed Amte has its headquarters in Caithness.
The use of UKBIC to manufacture cells will also allow Amte to grow production in advance of mass commercialisation plans based on its first megafactory, in Dundee.
This is expected to deliver opportunities worth about £240m across the Amte Power product range.
Finance will provide working capital into Q2 2023
The finance would also provide general working capital for the group into the second quarter of 2023, at which point it anticipates producing cells through customer production contracts at the UKBIC.
The funding would also be used to allow the group to:
- Conclude the development for initial commercialisation of each of its core cells: the ultra high power, the ultra safe and the ultra prime
- Meet the operating costs and capital expenditure required to produce and sell into the company’s target markets
The ultra high power cell is expected to start commercial production at the UKBIC in early 2023, while the ultra safe cell is expected to begin commercial production at Thurso in 2023.
The ultra prime cell is due to be produced for initial supply in 2023, with commercial production anticipated at Thurso the following year.
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