Electric Last Mile Solutions, a commercial electric vehicle company, on Sunday evening announced it plans to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
The company one year ago this month combined with Forum Merger III. The transaction reflected a pro forma implied equity value for the combined company of approximately $1.4 billion. The purchase included the support of a $155 million PIPE.
In February 2022, following the resignations of former CEO Jim Taylor and Jason Luo, the company’s founder and former executive chairman, Electric Last Mile appointed board member Shauna McIntyre as interim CEO and President, in part because of her automotive experience.
The ELMS Board and the new leadership team under McIntyre launched a comprehensive review of the company’s products and commercialization plans, instilled a culture of safety and focused the workforce on producing quality vehicles. This process included assessing the company’s planned product offerings, production plans, and certification processes, including the feasibility of meeting previously announced targets, according to a press release.
Based on the findings of the same board-initiated investigation that led to the resignations of Taylor and Luo, ELMS was forced to withdraw financial guidance and declare the company’s past financial statements unreliable. The compound effect of these events, along with a pending SEC investigation initiated this year, made it extremely challenging to secure a new auditor and attract additional funding. Read more.
