Bankruptcy averted

Consortium buys air cab start-up Lilium

At the last minute before the final end, the management achieved a breakthrough in the search for an investor.

(Bild: Lilium)

The insolvent air cab pioneer Lilium has found an investor and intends to continue its business. As the start-up announced at Christmas, the Mobile Uplift Corporation consortium has signed a purchase agreement. The approximately 1,000 employees who were made redundant on Friday will be brought back, said a spokesperson.

"We are very pleased to announce the signing of an investment agreement with a very experienced consortium of investors," said CEO Klaus Roewe. "The completion of the transaction in early January will enable us to resume our business."

Over the past ten years, the start-up has developed an electrically powered small aircraft that takes off and lands vertically. The first manned flight was last planned for early 2025 and the first delivery to customers for 2026. However, Lilium ran out of money in the home straight and the company filed for insolvency at the end of October.

Completion expected in January
However, at the last minute before the final end, the management and management consultants KPMG achieved a breakthrough in the search for investors. Mobile Uplift Corporation, founded by investors from Europe and North America, signed a purchase agreement for the business assets of the operating subsidiaries Lilium GmbH and Lilium eAircraft GmbH.

The creditors' committee of the parent company Lilium has approved the deal, which is expected to be finalized at the beginning of January. It is subject to the fulfillment of "certain customary conditions precedent".

The purchase price and the investors behind Mobile Uplift were not initially disclosed. Lilium has only a small amount of debt, but needs several hundred million euros to continue business, the first manned flight and certification. The company assumes that the agreement with Mobile Uplift will provide its subsidiaries with "sufficient funds to resume their business activities". The proceeds from the sale will not be distributed to the holding company.

Many orders and high costs
Following the closing, the subsidiaries are to be restructured and the provisional insolvency proceedings under self-administration ordered by the Weilheim Local Court are to be terminated. The company, headed by former Airbus manager Roewe, has around 700 firm and advance orders from the USA, the UK, France, Saudi Arabia and other countries. Customers and investors have already invested 1.5 billion euros in the company, which was listed on the US stock exchange Nasdaq until it filed for insolvency.

However, the upcoming approval process and the establishment of production will still require large sums of money. Lilium spent almost 200 million euros in the first half of 2024 alone. An application for a loan guarantee of 50 million euros from the federal government was rejected by the traffic light coalition in Berlin.