UK – Over a year ago, British startup Tevva Motors Ltd – which had already raised millions of dollars in funding on the strength of its 7.5 tonne prototype electric truck – announced plans to merge with an American company called ElectraMeccanica. It was an unlikely match: ElectraMeccanica had launched a single product, a battery-powered three-wheeler, which had to be recalled due to numerous technical faults. Following the merger, the new company, called ‘Tevva Inc’, would begin with a cash balance between USD70-80m, debts of USD26m, and two facilities on either side of the Atlantic. It was apparently a marriage of convenience: a means to recapitalise Tevva’s business and enter the American market; and when the deal collapsed, the declaration of bankruptcy, which came six months later, seemed as inevitable as the change of seasons.

In fact, a lot of work was being done behind the scenes to save the company between the termination of the merger deal and the entry into administration in mid-2024. On 6 June, Lee Manning, Cameron Gunn and Ben Woodthorpe of ReSolve Advisory Ltd were appointed as administrators and tasked with finding new investors. However, Andrew Pepper, who specialises in restructuring and business “turnaround” at ReSolve, spent a long time advising Tevva’s board of directors on how to avoid insolvency, and he was by no means assured of the inevitability of failure.