Faraday Future's new investor agreement puts the past behind it, hopefully
FF claims investors other than Evergrande have been keen to give the fledgling automaker the cash to bring its vehicles to market.
The brouhaha brimming between Faraday Future and its chief investor, Evergrande Health, might be coming to an end.
Faraday Future published a release on its Twitter account on Monday, saying that it's entered into a restructuring agreement with Season Smart, a subsidiary of Evergrande Health, which will allow Faraday Future to seek new sources of funding in 2019. This supersedes the investment contract the two parties agreed upon previously.
In addition to setting a new stage for additional investors to plunk down cash, Season Smart and Faraday Future also agreed to drop "all current litigation and arbitration proceedings." Faraday Future took Evergrande to arbitration over claims that Evergrande was preventing Faraday Future from receiving the financing it claims it needs to build its first batch of production vehicles.
Faraday Future claimed in its release that "investors from all over the world have expressed interests in [the company]." Financing is what created the troubles between Evergrande and Faraday Future in the first place -- after buying up Season Smart and its stake in Faraday Future, Evergrande allegedly failed to give FF the financing it needed to continue existing. In addition to entering arbitration, Faraday Future had to furlough some of its workers and lay off or cut the salaries of others while it tried to seek additional financing.
Reuters points out that, based on filings, Evergrande Health will own 32 percent of Faraday Future's preferred stock post-agreement, down from 45 percent.
The company sounds upbeat about its newfound prospects. "FF is working to fully address the funding issues and fulfill its commitment of product delivery," the company said in its Twitter statement. "FF will continue to focus on final product delivery and maximize the interests of its shareholders, global suppliers and future users."
Faraday Future's first car, the FF 91, was introduced to the public on stage at CES 2017. Its electric motors produce a max of about 1,050 horsepower, and it's believed that it can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour quicker than Tesla's quickest vehicles. We've seen it tackle high-speed testing in Ohio and hopefully we'll get to take a crack at the real thing when it leaves the assembly plant, which is expected to happen in 2019.
Faraday Future FF 91: Come along as we watch the FF 91 do some high-speed testing.
Faraday Future at CES 2017: It was an honest-to-goodness spectacle.