An update on our possible partnership with Octavia

It’s about a month since we announced that we’re in talks with Octavia about a possible partnership, so we thought now would be a good time to share a quick update on how things are progressing. 

We’re currently carrying out due diligence, which is a review to confirm the facts or details of something. In this case, it’s about making sure that both Abri and Octavia are the right fit for each other, understanding how we both work and if there’s anything that might affect our decision on making the partnership.

We’re also creating an outline business case which’ll set out what the combined organisation could look like. We’re a little way off this being finalised, but when it is, it’ll be used as the basis for formal consultation with both our customers and Octavia’s customers. We’ll be reaching out to customers for views on the partnership in late spring/early summer this year.

After we’ve received all the feedback and have the final outcomes of due diligence and lender negotiations, we’ll create a final business case that’ll be our roadmap for what service and opportunities we’ll be able to offer customers, colleagues, stakeholders and communities as a result of the potential partnership. And then if the Boards of both Octavia and Abri agree to the final business case, the earliest we’d expect the partnership to happen is around October 2024.

There’s a lot of work to happen between now and then, but we want to reassure you that this is a really positive opportunity and will hopefully be very rewarding for Abri, Octavia and our customers.