Two Chinese companies, Geely Automobile and Dongfeng Motor Corporation, are trying to buy a majority stake in the corporate venturing-backed car maker Fisker Automotive.
According to newswire Bloomberg, Dongfeng Motor Group, has offered $350m for an 85% stake in Fisker. Newswire Reuters said the company was favouring Geely’s bid. Geely, which also acquired the Volvo marque from Ford in 2010 for $1.8bn.
Roger Ormisher, spokesman for Fisker, said by email: “The company has received detailed proposals from multiple parties in different continents which are now being evaluated by the company and its advisers.” He declined to disclose further details.
In October, Fisker raised $100m in its series E round raising it’s total equity, at the time, to more than $1.2bn. Investors in Fisker included venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, New Enterprise Associates and Palo Alto Investors, investment bank Advanced Equities, alternative energy company Quantum Fuel Technologies, real estate investors Ace Investments, Qatari government-backed Qatar Investment Authority and A123 Systems, the exclusive battery supplier for Fisker Automotive.
Two weeks after the conclusion of Fisker’s E round, A123 Systems filed for bankruptcy forcing Fisker Automotive to stop manufacturing the Karma as battery production at A123 systems halted pending it’s acquisition by Chinese automobile parts manufacture Wanxiang Group Corporation – a deal which was only approved last month by US government regulators.
US-based Fisker has faced lower-than-expected sales of its $110,000 Fisker Karma, a hybrid vehicle which uses a gasoline engine to charge a battery pack which provides power the electric motor that propels the car. And last year the US Department of Energy halted a planned $529m line of credit to Fisker after the company drew down $193m and the company also lost 338 vehicles valued at more than $32m when Hurricane Sandy flooded New Jersey port.
An investment by Donfeng or Geely would provide much of the capital needed for Fisker to continue production of the Karma and development of the prototype 4 door Atlantic sedan.