$47 Million injection helps Th!nk emerge from court-ordered bankruptcy protection.
Wayne Gerdes -
CleanMPG - Aug. 29, 2009
The TH!NK City is one of the few BEVs with a reported 110-mile all-electric range, beyond 60 mph performance and meets basic safety regulations with its Pan-European regulatory safety approval and CE certification achieved back in early May.
Th!nk will begin making electric cars again with financial assistance from Ener1, Finnish Valmet Automotive and Norway’s Investinor.
Ener1 took the lead among a group of investors that will inject $47 million of equity funding into Think Global AS, the small Norwegian recyclable BEV producer.
Ener1 has agreed to invest approximately $18 million, and convert an additional $3.0 million in debt for convertible preferred shares of Think, effectively transferring the 10% equity stake held by Ener1 Group to Ener1, Inc. Once all stages are complete, Ener1, Inc. will hold approximately a 31-percent stake in the company.
"Automakers need made-to-order performance combined with the pricing and availability of an off-the-shelf system," said Ener1 Chairman and CEO Charles Gassenheimer. "Ener1 and Think have collaborated for years on systems development, and today possess a unique ability to bring together category-leading technologies in a fully integrated platform, to suit a wide variety of vehicle applications."
Long-Term Li-Ion Battery supply agreement
EnerDel and Think have also agreed to enter into a new long-term battery supply agreement as part of the transaction. EnerDel will receive certain exclusivity rights for the supply of Li-Ion battery packs for Think's new vehicles.
"This means we can re-start production of the TH!NK City as soon as possible," said Think CEO Richard Canny. "In addition to ensuring supply of high-performance battery systems, the new deal will enable us to more fully capitalize on our advantage in the marketplace with the only 'plug-and-play' electric vehicle drive system with prismatic lithium-ion technology."
Current Th!nk production line to be shuddered
One of the other partners, Valmet Automotive provides engineering and manufacturing services to the automotive industry and is joining Think as a new industrial partner with a small share in the company. Future production of the TH!NK City EV will commence at Valmet’s high-technology manufacturing base in Uusikaupunki, Finland, alongside its assembly facilities for the Porsche Boxster and Cayman models for Porsche AG.
These state-of-the-art Finland based production facilities are expected to begin production in sometime during the fourth quarter of this year.
Production at Think’s existing assembly facility in Aurskog, Norway, will be suspended indefinitely in light of the agreement with Valmet Automotive.
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