Fisker Says Talks with Automaker Terminated

LOS ANGELES – Electric vehicle maker Fisker Inc. – the cash-starved startup that once boasted it would build EVs at Foxconn Ohio’s Lordstown plant – said in a regulatory filing Monday that a large automaker it was in negotiations with has terminated discussions, making it impossible to satisfy the terms of a major investor.

Fisker announced March 19 that it had a commitment from an existing investor to provide $150 million in financing to the company. But due to the termination of talks with the automaker, reported widely by other media as Nissan, Fisker “will not be able to meet a closing condition to the financing commitment and term sheet,” according to the company’s 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

Fisker said it would seek discussions with the investor about the possibility of waiving the closing condition or providing financing under “different terms.”

The company said Monday that some of the alternatives it is evaluating include “in or out of court restructurings, capital markets transactions (subject to market conditions), repurchases, redemptions, exchanges or other refinancings of its existing debt, the potential issuance of equity securities, the potential sale of assets and businesses and/or other strategic transactions and/or other measures.”

Fisker said earlier it would pause production of its flagship vehicle, the Fisker Ocean, for six weeks beginning March 18 “to align inventory levels and progress strategic and financing initiatives,” according to a press release.

Fisker had planned to build its second vehicle, the Fisker Pear, in partnership with Foxconn at its Lordstown plant. While a preliminary letter of intent was agreed to, a final contract manufacturing agreement with Foxconn never materialized.

Pictured at top: A Fisker Pear prototype.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.