Struggling EV startup Mullen bids for bankrupt Electric Last Mile
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TROUBLED EV startup Mullen Automotive has emerged as the leading bidder for the assets of bankrupt competitor Electric Last Mile Solutions, including a now-idle former Hummer SUV factory in Indiana.
Mullen agreed to a stalking horse bid of “almost US$100 million in total consideration”, according to a Sep 16 filing by the trustee in Electric Last Mile’s Chapter 7 case. Competing bids are due by Oct 3, and an auction will be held Oct 7.
Details of the offer come after Mullen, which aims to bring electric vehicles (EV) to market including a compact SUV and a sports car, announced it was acquiring a majority stake in rival Bollinger Motors in a cash-and-stock transaction.
Mullen didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The firms are among a number of EV startups struggling to break through in a market dominated by Tesla at a time of overstretched supply chains and high costs. One day after the Bollinger deal was announced, Mullen, whose stock has declined about 90 per cent this year, revealed it had fallen out of compliance with Nasdaq’s minimum share price requirements.
The shares fell 5.7 per cent at 12.22 pm Monday (Sep 19) in New York.
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The trustee has said that as many as 245 potential strategic or financial parties were solicited for the assets of Electric Last Mile, which filed for bankruptcy in June, and that 39 of those have executed non-disclosure agreements to perform due diligence and potentially make a bid. Securing Mullen as a stalking horse bidder “represents a tremendous benefit to the debtors’ estates and creditors”, he wrote in Friday’s filing. BLOOMBERG
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