Spyker exits restructuring process and announces electric car plans

The 375bhp B6 Venator sports car is key to Spyker's future plans

Dutch sports car firm says it is now debt-free and pressing ahead with merger with an Oregon-based electric aircraft company

Dutch sports car company Spyker is pressing ahead with plans to merge with an American aircraft manufacturer and build electric cars after emerging from its financial crisis.

Spyker today confirmed that it has exited moratorium of payment – a procedure that allows a company to continue operating its business and managing its assets in the ordinary course of business while at the same time restructuring. It has been in that process for almost eight months.

Spyker chief executive officer Victor Muller said: "We have gone through a very rough patch during the past year, going from moratorium in early December 2014 to being declared bankrupt on 18 December, subsequently filing an appeal of that decision, winning that appeal on 22 January 2015 and returning to moratorium as a consequence.

“After winning a long legal battle with just one creditor, we have now finally succeeded in exiting moratorium and we are back in business as a healthy, debt-free enterprise. In the coming weeks we will finalise the agreements with investors which were held up for over two months by the protracted litigation.”

Spyker is merging with Volta Volare, a maker of electric aircraft based in Portland, Oregon.

“We look forward to a bright future for the company I founded 15 years ago and which is now set to build sensationally elegant and classy electric motor cars and electric planes for decades to come,” said Muller, who added that Spyker currently has around 250 vehicles on the roads.

Spyker has been handed a lifeline after a court decision to declare the company bankrupt was overturned on appeal. In December the troubled Dutch manufacturer filed a voluntary petition for protection from its creditors while it "addressed short-term operational and liquidity challenges".

Company chief Victor Muller expected to receive an injection of funding, but when this was not forthcoming, a Dutch local court appointed an administrator in charge of Spyker's affairs

In the days following the bankruptcy ruling, the extra funding did arrive, and Spyker lodged its appeal against bankruptcy.

Earlier today the appeal was upheld, meaning Spyker is now in a 'temporary moratorium of payment', a procedure that allows a company to continue operating its business and managing its assets in the ordinary course of business while at the same time restructuring.

Muller expects his company to exit the temporary moratorium within a matter of weeks: "Following that exit we will forthwith pursue the execution of our plans which include the introduction of the Spyker B6 Venator, our entry-level luxury sports car which will give a larger audience access to the Spyker brand."

Muller also offered a hint at Spyker's future direction, saying the company was "seeking a merger with a US-based manufacturer of high performance electric aircraft."

The company would seek to deploy the electric technology in "full electric Spyker cars in the foreseeable future"," claimed Muller.

Spyker's B6 Venator, a mid-engined 375bhp V6 sports car, was revealed in £125,000 coupé form at the 2013 Geneva motor show, and as a £135,000 convertible later that year. 

When Spyker entered bankruptcy protection in December, Muller said: “Over the past few years, Spyker has faced a number of serious difficulties and challenges resulting from, among others, the legacy of the F1 era and the acquisition of Saab Automobile AB.

“Our management and board have been working very hard in the past 12 months on a restructuring plan that includes the execution of Spyker’s B6 Venator programme, an entry-level luxury sports car which will give a larger audience access to the Spyker brand, and the merger with a US-based manufacturer of high-performance electric aircraft, the exciting new sustainable technology of which will find its way into future Spyker automobiles.

“After careful consideration of all available alternatives, the company’s directors and management boards determined that a voluntary petition for temporary moratorium of payment was a necessary and prudent step and the best way to secure and use the financing necessary to maintain operations and allow for a successful restructuring of the Company.

“We expect to emerge from this restructuring a stronger, more innovative company that is well positioned for growth and profitability. We are proud of the consistent high quality of our automobiles and our valued customer and partner relationships.”

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