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Short-Term Bailout in Works for Think
2 January 2009
According to a report by Norway’s NTP, a short-term financing package that combines loans from the private sector, government and possibly owners is almost ready to come to the aid of Think, the Norway-based electric car maker. Think halted production in December while it looked for additional funding, and reportedly asked the Norwegian government for support. (Earlier post.)
The government said it would not directly intervene to rescue the automaker.
According to Jo Rodin, the head of the debt committee, the short-term financing should be in place Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, and give the company breathing room for a couple of months, “so that we can reach agreement with creditors and potential new investors.”
The NTP report says that the short-term financing will not support the production of new cars, but rather the completion of the cars that are almost ready, and some production of parts for future vehicles. No Think cars will be on the market this month.
(A hat-tip to Richard at Electric-Aid!)
January 2, 2009 in Brief | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
Comments
Posted by: ToppaTom | January 02, 2009 at 01:00 PM
Very funny ToppaTom :-)
Sad that Think's hitting trouble again. When oil spot prices were still over a hundred bucks a barrel, just a few months back, it seemed like the future was looking pretty bright for this company. I myself was looking forward to the opportunity to buy one sometime in the next few years here in the US. I do hope they can hold on and build a market through this big recession.
In these conditions, I am suspecting Tesla's strategy, going after the wealthy buyers at the top end, is working out to be more advantageous to making an "everyman" car like Think are doing.
Posted by: Jim Greene | January 02, 2009 at 01:57 PM
Currently holding more than 3 Trillion (yes T) dollars, second in the world only to Abu Dhabi and ahead of Saudi Arabi, Kuwait, Singapore and China - the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global - has more money than god. The money comes entirely from their exploitation of... oil.
And it will triple its asset value to more than ten Trillion dollars in the next 5-10 years according to IMF. Norway makes Exxon, Chevron, BP etc. look like small potatoes. So, can the Norwegian Government afford to invest in the ethical, sustainable business of EV's? We think yes. What could be a better investment for a little country swimming in the world's cash?
Posted by: Reel$$ | January 02, 2009 at 03:57 PM
Reel$, Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global is about 270 billion US$.
Posted by: Andrey Levin | January 02, 2009 at 07:04 PM
Andrey: Correct (though depending on stock prices since that's where most of it is invested). Barely enough to cover the expenses of run the US military for a few months...
Posted by: sytan | January 03, 2009 at 03:46 AM
My error. IMF claims $373B for Norway. $3 Trillion is IMF estimate total assets of the Sovereign Wealth Funds, 75% controlled by oil export countries - to grow to $10-15 Trillion by 2015.
"At this year's World Economic Forum (WEF) summit in Davos, it was estimated that SWF with their overwhelming $8 trillion-plus in wealth are expected to grow to over $20 trillion over the next five years, making these funds even more powerful investors globally."
http://www.domain-b.com/finance/general/20081022_norwegian_pension_fund.html
Norway's SWF, with a strong ethical investment strategy, would do well to invest in a domestic business aimed at electrification of transport. Although obviously it conflicts with the source of their fund's income.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates provided [Congress]an estimate of $170 billion in Iraq and Afghanistan war expenses for FY'09.
Posted by: Reel$$ | January 03, 2009 at 08:12 AM
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Blame it on poor mangement.
They had a chance to buy Hummer; or back engineer the EV1.
No bailout for Think unless they start making big gas guzzlers.