To good to be true Glad RFX pulled the plug....

To good to be true  Glad RFX pulled the plug.

https://www.copyright link/technology/afp-raid-triggers-funding-uncertainty-at-australian-start-up-s-uk-battery-plan-20230629-p5dkfv




AFP raid triggers funding uncertainty at Australian start-up’s UK battery plan
Nick BonyhadyJun 30, 2023 – 6.52pm

Scale Facilitation chief executive David Collard looks across New York City from his office in the World Trade Centre. Ann-Sophie Fjelloe-Jensennone

“The Serious Financial Crime Taskforce is a joint agency taskforce consisting of multiple Commonwealth departments,” she said. “This search warrant activity is AFP led.”

Real estate investment fund Tritax, which is 60 per cent owned by financial giant Abrdn, agreed in mid-June to a joint venture to fund a big portion of the project. The companies would not comment publicly, but a source familiar with the matter said it had only entered into a conditional agreement to explore raising cash to finance parts of the planned factory.


A mock-up of Britishvolt’s proposed factory in north-east England. none

“No financing has been raised or committed, and there is no assurance that any will be made available as a result of this agreement,” the source said. “Any financing would be subject to, among other matters, the completion of due diligence and satisfaction of the conditions negotiated.”

Tritax is a multibillion-dollar real estate and logistics fund manager that had partnered with Britishvolt before it entered administration as part of an arrangement that also included British government backing. Tritax and Abrdn were expected to take a majority share of the new venture with Scale Facilitation between them in return for their support.

Britishvolt’s administrators from EY said they were monitoring the situation. “Discussions have been ongoing and the transaction ... has not yet completed,” a spokeswoman for the administrators said.

Scale Facilitation is led by David Collard, an Australian who has said he was the youngest-ever partner at PwC in New York. His company had boasted of a range of high-profile advisers on its website, but that page has been deleted, a detail first reported along with the raid by TheAustralian.

One adviser, Australian Super director Claire Keating, declined to comment. Rajesh Vasa, an academic at Deakin University, and a local Geelong radio broadcaster, Roxie Bennett, did not respond to requests for comment. Professor Vasa and Ms Bennett are listed as company advisers. Another man listed as an adviser, neurosurgeon Jeffrey Rosenfeld, said he had only been an unpaid technical adviser to the company on Australian medical technology and its commercialisation in America.

“I have never been involved in the operations, business or board of management of this company,” Professor Rosenfeld said. He directed questions about its operations to the company. Asked whether he remained an adviser, Professor Rosenfeld said: “I am currently, but this may change depending on what happens in [Scale Facilitation].”

There is no suggestion any of the advisory board members are aware of or involved in any of Scale’s tax matters. As well as Recharge, Scale says its portfolio consists of a platform to help schools in the United States open after the COVID-19 pandemic, a medical equipment supplier called SaniteX Global and a system to screen for respiratory issues.

In a statement to AFR Weekend, Scale Facilitation said it “has and will continue to fully co-operate with the [Australian Taxation Office].

“We deny any wrongdoing and will continue working with our legal and other advisers to defend any matters arising from these discussions.”

Mr Collard declined interview requests.

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