Tevva electric truck deal falls apart
ElectraMeccanica Vehicles in the US has pulled out of the merger with UK electric truck developer Tevva Motors.
The Tevva team say they had no opportunity to respond to ElectraMeccanica’s claims before they went public. Tevva says it gave full and open access to ElectraMeccanica’s advisors and management, with full financial due diligence.
“Tevva strongly refutes the basis under which the planned merger was terminated, with no regard to the agreement termination protocol, and will be seeking recourse through due legal process. Tevva will shortly go public on its rebuttal of the ElectraMeccanica claims via the company’s advisors,” it said.
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The termination of the deal means Tevva is back in play as it re-engages with a number of investors and public companies looking for a merger. It has also restructured the leadership team with David Roberts taking the role of CEO rather than executive chairman with Ken Scott as Managing Director under the Chairmanship of Ian Harnett.
“The decision to terminate the agreement was made by a unanimous decision of ElectraMeccanica’s Board of Directors based on additional information that came to light following execution of the arrangement agreement,” said ElectraMeccanica.
“Suffice it to say, that – while extremely disappointing – exiting the agreement arrangement was our best option in terms of preserving opportunities to create shareholder value,” said Susan Docherty, CEO of ElectraMeccanica.
“The Tevva combination wasn’t ElectraMeccanica’s only merger opportunity,” she said. “During the first and second quarters, we evaluated roughly 100 companies, and had exploratory talks with nearly a dozen. This category and company due diligence performed over the last 6 months now will be leveraged going forward. We’re in direct contact with several additional companies that approached us after the termination announcement, including companies that were previously assessed.”
A $6m loan from ElectraMeccanica is also repayable by January 2, 2024 with interest.
Tevva says it continues to attract interest from customers in its 7.5t battery-electric truck. It also has a number of trucks in build for handover to other customers having raised nearly $174m in venture and corporate financing, with additional backing in grants from the UK government via the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC).
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