Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN) (“Mullen” or the “Company”), an emerging electric vehicle (“EV”) manufacturer, announces the US Bankruptcy Court approval on Oct. 13th, 2022 of its acquisition of electric vehicle company ELMS’s (Electric Last Mile Solutions) assets in an all cash purchase. In the Chapter 7 approved transaction, Mullen will acquire ELMS’s manufacturing plant, all inventory and intellectual property.
Acquisition benefits include:
● The factory in Mishawaka, IN, providing Mullen with the capability to produce up to 50,000 vehicles per year
● Allows acceleration of the path to production and market for Mullen FIVE and Bollinger B1, B2 retail vehicles by 12 plus months
● Commercial Product Platforms to be assembled at Mullen’s Tunica MS. Facility for Launch of Mullen Class 1 and Class 3 Commercial Delivery vehicles into Market in 2023.
● The platform and plant acquisition results in a significant reduction of the Company’s previously forecast overall spend
The Mishawaka, IN factory that forms part of the Company’s acquisition, previously produced General Motors Hummer H2 SUV and SUT and also subsequently contract manufactured the Mercedes-Benz R-Class vehicle. This makes it the perfect fit for production of the Mullen and Bollinger portfolio of consumer vehicles. The ELMS asset acquisition and the recent acquisition of the majority ownership of Bollinger Motors, gives Mullen the ability to integrate Bollinger’s vehicle platforms, B1 and B2 along with Mullen’s FIVE and FIVE RS platforms into an already existing and capable high volume manufacturing facility. As a result, this will accelerate launch of the Bollinger B1, B2 retail vehicles by 12 plus months.
Manufacturing optimization will include moving the Mullen FIVE EV Crossover production to the Mishawaka Factory from the Tunica, MS facility. Mullen FIVE production is planned to begin production in 2024. Tunica will now become the Commercial Manufacturing Center and capitalize to produce all Mullen and Bollinger Class 1 to 6 commercial vehicles.
With the additional Manufacturing capacity, total production volumes are expected to exceed Mullen’s previous business plan projections. The commercial portfolio is expected to increase over 50% with the addition of the ELMS assets and the retail portfolio is expected to more than double with the addition of Bollinger vehicles and the manufacturing capacity of Mishawaka.
The Company’s majority ownership acquisition of Bollinger Motors was closed in August 2022 with a combination of stock and cash. The ELMS acquisition will be completed as an all-cash purchase.
Highlights of the Acquisition:
Per the Asset Purchase Agreement which can be viewed from the Company’s recent public filings, the ELMS Assets purchased by Mullen were as follows:
● all Intellectual Property, including, without limitation, the registered intellectual property specifically listed in the Asset Purchase Agreement
● all inventory including vehicles, finished and unfinished, finished goods, part modules component parts, raw materials, tooling, including but not limited to product specific tooling, all manufacturing data that is required or reasonably helpful for the assembly of the Class 1 Electric commercial delivery vans and Class 3 Commercial Delivery Cab Chassis
● purchase of real property located in Mishawaka, Indiana, together with all buildings, improvements and fixtures
● all tangible personal property including equipment, machinery, furniture, supplies, computer hardware, data networks, servers (with data and software), communication equipment, software, discs, and all other data storage media
“Mullen’s acquisition of Bollinger was one of the largest transactions of its kind in the EV market. Upon closing the ELMS transaction, the Company will be in a position to strategically leverage all its acquired assets to shorten its production path and aggressively expand into the commercial and consumer EV market,” said David Michery, CEO and chairman of Mullen Automotive.