Collapsed electric-vehicle company Lightning eMotors Inc. The sale of Lightning’s assets is expected to close next week following court proceedings Thursday and Friday, but some operations will continue in part at Lightning’s Forge campus in Loveland.
Marcy Willard, acting economic-development director for the city of Loveland, confirmed Friday that Livermore, Calif.-based Gillig LLC has leased 55,000 square feet of space on the south side of Forge’s 140,000-square-foot Building A at 815 14th St. SW in Loveland. ,
“They still have some equipment on both sides, but they’ll move it to the south side,” Willard said.
Court-appointed receivers Willard and Mike Staeheli, managing director of Cordes & Co.’s Denver office, said 40 to 50 employees there will continue development of the electronic drive trains that Lightning eMotors is making.
“It’s good news,” Willard said, noting that Lightning has already moved its operations out of the 105,000-square-foot Building B and “There has been a lot of interest from other entities in Building B.”
According to an 8-K report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as a filing made last month in Larimer County District Court, receiver Cordes & Co. has entered into an agreement with Gerco LLC, a Delaware corporation, to sell all of Lightning. Made a compromise. $12.6 million in cash assets.
The sale was approved by Larimer County District Judge Laurie Dean on Thursday, but Staeheli said his company is “working on a slightly modified court order.” He said he expected the amendment to be signed on Friday and “conclusion will happen next week.”
The relationship between Gerco and Gillig is unclear, as well as under what brand Loveland will be operated. However, Gillig, a private company founded in 1890 that makes buses, was already offering full-time jobs to some Lightning eMotors engineers this month.
“It was an incredibly rushed effort,” Staeheli told BizWest. “We had a very short time to find a buyer for the property, and we were fortunate to find a buyer who would continue some elements of Lightning’s work.”
He said his company is still working to resolve issues with some of Lightning’s unsecured creditors.
Lighting eMotors told the SEC on December 14 that its assets would be sold, and the proceeds would go to creditors. The filing came a day after Greenwood Village-based private-equity firm Cupola Infrastructure Income Fund LLLP, which in October 2019 provided Lightning with a $3 million working-capital line of credit as well as a $3 million term loan, on which The lawsuit was filed in Larimer County. The District Court is seeking appointment of a receiver to sell the company’s assets. Lightning said in its SEC filing that it has “determined and agreed to the proposal and proposed order to appoint Cordes & Co. as receiver.”
According to court documents, the proceeds from the sale of the company’s assets will be distributed to creditors of Lightning eMotors (OTC) by Cordes & Co., a provider of electric-vehicle technology for zero-emission medium-duty commercial vehicles and fleets. :ZEVY) and its subsidiary, Lightning Systems Inc., “pursuant to their applicable priorities and as per court order.”
“The Company’s shareholders will not receive any distributions in the receivership or as a result of the transaction,” according to a news release issued by Lightning eMotors on Jan. 25.
Lightning’s 15-year journey was marked by rapid growth, pioneering innovations, major contracts, global praise and emergence into public trading using an alternative trading strategy. However, in the last mile, its bottom line was damaged by supply-chain challenges, the failure of a pair of battery makers, massive losses and a raft of lawsuits, leading to a decline in its share prices and delisting by the New York Stock Exchange. Went. exchange.
Calls to Gillig for comment were not returned by BizVest’s afternoon deadline.
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