Perpetuus Tidal Energy Centre, known locally as PTEC, has got caught up in an official Government ‘intervention notice’ that cited ‘national security’ as a reason to interrupt the sale of the Perpetuus Group to Taurus International Ltd.
The notice, which lists four companies in the Perpetuus Group including PTEC, says
“acting on official advice, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Kwasi Kwarteng, has issued a public interest intervention notice to intervene in the proposed acquisition of The Perpetuus Group by Taurus International Ltd and others on national security grounds.”
PTEC have been trying to place a tidal energy site off the coast of the South of the Isle of Wight.
It seems the Government’s main concerns are related to some of the other Pertetuus companies, which are connected to Graphene and a one Dr Zhongfu Zhou.
Ownership
The ownership of the Perpetuus companies is a little involved.
John Buckland, who, with his wife Kim was involved in Isle of Wight-based company Liz Earle Beauty Co before it was sold to Avon in 2010, is listed at Companies House as having ownership of 75 per cent or more of the shares of Perpetuus Energy Ltd. This company, in turn, owns 80 per cent of the Isle of Wight Perpetuus Tidal Energy Centre Ltd (PTEC).
Isle of Wight council had a 15 per cent share ownership in PTEC in 2013, after the council gave the company and unsecured £1m loan. IWC’s shareholding has reduced since then.
Buckland’s loan to company
Papers filed at Companies House show that John Buckland has made a loan to Perpetuus Energy Ltd of £2,936,355. PTEC owed Perpetuus Energy Ltd £1,363,576, around £100k up from the previous year (2019).
John Buckland also has other business interests including West Bay.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is required to investigate and report by midnight at the end of 7th February 2022.
News OnTheWight has contacted Perpetuus for comment, but they didn’t respond. A comms person for PTEC reached out afterhours and said PTEC is not being sold.
Article edit
8.25am 10th Sep 2021 – Clarification and update added from PTEC.
Image: stevenpisano under CC BY 2.0
