Temaet vanskelig økonomi i nyoppstartede elfly firmaer, har fått ny akturalitet etter at Liliium nå synes å gå dukken. Overoptimisme er skurken. Det går på flere elementer, ikke minst sertifiserinskriterier og etablering av nytt luftrom som disse skal fly i. Det tar tid, og dette kan være starten på flere konkurser vil jeg tro. (Red.)
Lilium faces insolvency as cash crisis deepens
By Dominic Perry 24 October 2024
Lilium’s main German operating subsidiaries are to file for insolvency
amid an ongoing cash crisis at the electric air taxi developer.
Revealing the move on 24 October, the company says the two subsidiaries
– Lilium and Lilium eAircraft – “are or will become unable to pay their
existing liabilities… within the next few days”.
Source: Lilium
Company was
developing ducted-fan-powered Lilium Jet
“The management of the subsidiaries has informed the company that they
have to file for insolvency under German law and in doing so will apply for
self-administration proceedings in Germany,” it says in a filing to the US
Securities and Exchange Commission; those applications are likely to take place
“in the coming days”.
Under the proposed self-administration process Dutch-registered parent
company Lilium NV is likely to “lose control of the subsidiaries”. Existing
management remains in place under the supervision of a custodian and two
lawyers acting as “chief insolvency officers”.
The aim of the process is to sell assets or the business as whole to
ensure the best return to creditors.
“We are in the process of analysing the potential implications for the company
resulting from the insolvency proceedings of the subsidiaries,” Lilium says, a
review that could result in the parent also filing for insolvency.
Both the parent company and the subsidiaries “have a limited amount of
cash to conduct their operations”, it adds.
Without additional funding “they will not be able to conduct their
ongoing operations” and will need “to seek financing from third parties,
including any purchaser of their assets”.
Lilium’s shares are traded on the Nasdaq exchange and a delisting may
result from the insolvency, it warns. In addition, existing shareholders –
including Honeywell, which invested in 2021 – “are also likely to lose the
value of their investment in the company”.
Lilium’s current crisis has been triggered by the refusal
of the German government to guarantee half of a €100 million
($108 million) loan from the country’s state-owned development bank.
The government of Bavaria – the region in which Lilium is based – was
to have provided a guarantee for the remainder of the loan, but the two parties
“have not reached an agreement in principle” over the deal.
In addition, “despite its continuous and ongoing fundraising efforts”
it was unable to raise “sufficient” external finance to keep the businesses
afloat.
Since inception, the company has
burned through almost €1.5 billion attempting to bring its
electric ducted-fan-powered vertical take-off and landing Lilium Jet to market.
A first flight of a conforming test aircraft was due next year against a
certification target of 2026 – a highly ambitious timeline.
Financial firm Iceberg Research, which has been consistently sceptical
of Lilium’s performance claims, believes there is little chance of the jet
meeting that service-entry target.
“Lilium is very far from certification, let alone commercialisation,”
Iceberg writes in its latest research note.
It says German taxpayer funds should not be used to prop up the
company, adding: “Instead, European governments should let private markets
determine Lilium’s value. The companies that see any value in their
intellectual property can pick up the pieces.”
Lilium had claimed
a backlog of 780 aircraft, with around 100 orders described as “firm”
commitments. Major airline customers included Saudia – which placed a firm
order for 50 units in July – and cash-strapped Brazilian carrier Azul, which
planned to take up to 220 Lililum Jets.
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