Trading in shares in eVTOL aircraft developer Lilium are set be suspended when New York’s Nasdaq market opens on November 6 after a German court approved the company’s filing for insolvency on October 28. Lilium, which is scrambling to line up new financial backing, has until November 4 to appeal the ruling by Nasdaq’s Listing Qualifications Department.
Last week, Lilium said it would start self-administration proceedings after the German parliament’s budgetary committee rejected its application for a €50 million ($54 million) loan guarantee. This decision blocked a matching €50 million loan from the state of Bavaria.
Under German insolvency laws, the self administration process involves the court appointing a custodian to supervise management of the company. It gives time to find new investors or potentially sell company assets or the business as a whole entity.
On October 31, at least one senior Lilium executives was reported to be in Saudi Arabia in talks with prospective backers. However, the company has made no further statement on proceedings beyond its 6K Securities and Exchange filing on October 29.
Vertical Also Faces Liquidity Crunch
Meanwhile, UK eVTOL manufacturer Vertical Aerospace is also facing a liquidity crisis in the wake of leading shareholder Stephen Fitzpatrick not providing the second $25 million tranche of fresh capital that had been agreed earlier this year. On October 23, one of its major shareholders Mudrick Capital Management made a 13G filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission proposing a path to raise $75 million.
On October 24, Vertical acknowledged its board is considering the Mudrick proposal which Fitzpatrick appears to be resisting. In a statement, the company said it will “not comment on ongoing discussions with investors, and we are exploring all options available to us with respect to our funding needs.”