(Bloomberg) -- Lilium NV is getting a lifeline from a consortium of European and North American investors who plan to acquire the operating assets of the air taxi company’s main subsidiaries.
The German startup has signed an asset purchase agreement with closely held Mobile Uplift Corporation GmbH and expects the deal will position its two subsidiaries to obtain sufficient funding to restart business operations, Lilium said Tuesday in a statement. Remaining employees were terminated as of Dec. 20, but the consortium intends to rehire them, it said.
Lilium didn’t specify a price, but said that in line with German insolvency law it won’t receive any proceeds from the transaction. It said the deal is expected to close early next month, pending approval from its creditors’ committee.
“Deal closing at the beginning of January will allow us to restart our business,” Klaus Roewe, Lilium’s chief executive officer, said in the statement.
The Munich-based company, which aims to commercialize an electric-powered vertical take-off and landing aircraft, put its assets up for sale last month after a filing for insolvency was approved by a local court in Germany. Lilium had warned in October of such a filing after the German government denied it a guarantee on a €50 million ($52 million) loan.
That triggered a plunge in its shares, which were subsequently delisted from Nasdaq Global Select Market. Lilium first listed on that exchange in September of 2021 via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.