The sale of the bankruptcy of the start of EV Canoo’s start to his CEO has been incorporated by the judge who oversees the case. After evaluating some limited objections to the sale, Judge Brendan Shannon told a hearing on Wednesday that he believes that the process was fair and that no one else, but Canoo CEO Anthony Aquila made a bid.
Shannon’s decision, once formalized, paves the way for Aquila to buy most of the EV starting assets for about $ 4 million in cash. Aquila plans to offer services to customers such as NASA and the Ministry of Defense, which bought some Canoo vehicles before the company went down, according to lawyers representing the CEO.
Canoo is the last failure in a wave of newly established EV companies to deposit bankruptcy, a list that includes Fisker, Lordstown Motors and Nikola.
Canoo is also not the only one of these companies that had a chief executive to try to buy the assets. The founder and former CEO of Lordstown Motors, Steve Burns, have bought most of his company’s assets in bankruptcy and now Nikola’s founder and former CEO Trevor Milton are trying to do the same with his start.
Aquila was not the only one interested in Canoo’s assets.
Mark Felger, Canoo’s lawyer, said during the hearing that up to eight parts other than Aquila signed NDAS and evaluated what was for sale. Only a handful of them came close to making an offer, he said, including a team that the bankruptcy manager said could raise concerns to the foreign investment committee in the United States due to the (indefinite) “foreign property”.
The most remarkable of the places almost offering the assets were a harbinger, a start -up electric truck that recently opposed the sale and claimed that Canoo was hiding assets from potential buyers.
Harbinger’s founding team and many of its first employees left Canoo to create the new start in 2021. Canoo accused the founders of embezzling commercial secrets when leaving a lawsuit filed at the end of 2022, which continues to continue.
The result of this lawsuit became a central part of the sale of Canoo assets. The administrator believes that a Canoo victory in the case could bring a large piece of money and also a possible command against Harbinger using any of these commercial secrets.
John Morris, a lawyer for Harbinger, stressed at the hearing that, despite the two years in court, no one except Aquila even knows what commercial secrets were supposed to be underestimated. Canoo is never determined, even under the seal, what he thinks Harbinger is allegedly stolen.
Harbinger’s objection to the sale has partially addressed this, arguing that the administrator or evaluation company could therefore not properly assess property – which means that potential candidates were not fully up to date.
Morris also raised the issue of a particular clause in the sales agreement that gives Aquila the final approval for any possible settlement in the lawsuit with Canoo.
Morris argued that the manager had abandoned the duty of the trust in property, giving a potentially conflicting Aquila final for any settlement. Shannon finally disagreed.
Shannon said the administrator’s testimony that negotiations with Aquila took weeks and concerned several offers and offers as proof that the sale was properly examined. He said Aquila’s relationship with the company was correctly revealed.
“The administrator has executed a process that has led to a major offer,” and the sale has “proceeded in good faith,” he said.
Other objections to the sale came mainly from companies that either have excellent canoo balances or still hold the equipment. Felger told the court on Wednesday that most, if not all, are in the selection process.
