Evergrande Health Industry, a healthcare subsidiary of property developer China Evergrande, yesterday purchased a 45% stake in US-based electric vehicle developer Faraday Future for $860m.
Founded in 2014, Faraday Future is developing connected, electric cars. The company’s first production vehicle, FF 91, was unveiled in 2017 and will boast features such as autonomous parking capabilities and facial recognition.
Evergrande obtained the stake by acquiring investment firm Season Smart for HK$6.75bn ($860m). Existing Faraday shareholders will retain a 33% stake in the company, with the remaining 22% held back for employees.
Season Smart committed a total of $2bn to Faraday Future in November 2017, though its identity remained undisclosed as recently as April this year. The investment was officially approved by US regulators yesterday.
A total of $800m had been paid by Season Smart to date, and the remaining $1.2bn of funding is now the responsibility of Evergrande, according to Reuters.
Faraday Future will use its existing cash reserves and future payments from Evergrande to complete the development of FF 91 and begin selling the vehicle in the US and China.
The company also intends to expand its product pipeline, enhance technology development and boost its manufacturing capabilities.