Spyker to merge with U.S. electric aircraft builder
Victor Muller, co-founder and CEO of the Dutch automotive company, Spyker N.V, has announced that the company has asked the administrator to voluntary restructure finances, in an attempt to salvage the company from liquidity challenges. Muller simultaneously announced that the company is merging with an American electric aircraft manufacturer, in a press statement Tuesday.
The technology from the aircraft producer would make its way into the powertrains of new Spyker models, Muller suggested. ''We expect to emerge as an innovative company, and are well positioned to grow and prosper,'' says the director.
”Our Management and Board have been working very hard in the last 12 months on a restructuring plan that includes the execution of Spyker's B6 Venator programme, an entry-level luxury sports car which will give a larger audience access to the Spyker brand, and the merger with a US based manufacturer of high performance electric aircraft, the exciting new sustainable technology of which will find its way into future Spyker automobiles,” the company stated.
Muller has also announced that the Midden-Nederland district court in Lelystad has granted the company an extension on it's outstanding money owed. In achieving the moratorium, the company had to appoint an administrator who, in conjunction with the Management Board, is financially responsible for the company, for as long as the moratorium of payment state is in place. According to the CEO, the company has been working on a new external fund over the last year, and the underwriting company will apparently set about investing money in the newly restructured Spyker straight away.
Muller says the company has been devising a business reorganization plan. He expects the core of the business to be simple, and that creditors will possibly be held at bay. In the interim, the company's key operations are expected to continue during the temporary moratorium.
In 2010, Spyker purchased the much larger Swedish car brand, SAAB from General Motors. This acquisition resulted in failure when SAAB declared bankruptcy in 2011. Spyker NV endeavoured to sue General Motors Co for 3 Billion US dollars, claiming they derailed a plan to sell the Swedish automaker SAAB to a Chinese company. The court denied Spyker's claim, and the company's appeal to the ruling was rejected in October.
