Fisker completes sale of company to Wanxiang

Costa Mesa, Calif. – Fisker Automotive Inc. and Fisker Automotive Holdings Inc. have completed their deal to sell substantially all of their assets to an affiliate of Wanxiang America Corp.

"The completion of this transaction represents a significant achievement and is a great result for all Fisker Automotive stakeholders," says Marc A. Beilinson, Fisker Automotive's chief restructuring officer. "This successful outcome would not have been possible without the productive support from Wanxiang, our Creditors' Committee, and their advisors."

Fisker Automotive is being advised by Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP as counsel, Evercore as investment banker, and Beilinson Advisory Group as restructuring advisor. Wanxiang is advised by Sidley Austin LLP and Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP as counsel and M6 Business Advisors LLC as restructuring advisor.

Fisker leapt to the national stage at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in 2008. Months ahead of a massive economic collapse, the company showed off a curvy, sporty car that would be powered by batteries and a 2L General Motors engine.

In 2009, it won a $528 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy as part of a loan program meant to retool the U.S. auto industry for high-tech, fuel-efficient vehicles. Ford, for example, also received loans which it used to upgrade engine plants to make the EcoBoost turbocharged engines it features in its pickups. Nissan used loans to retool a portion of a Tennessee plant to make hybrids.

Between the recession and production problems, Fisker was never able to launch production in Delaware failed to meet several of the loan’s rules. The Energy Department locked the credit lines after Fisker had withdrawn about $192 million. It received some of those funds back before Firsker filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection, and it sold its remaining loans for $25 million, bringing the total federal loss on Fisker to $139 million.

Source: Fisker Automotive