(Adds CEO statement in paragraph 3, background about Faraday's
funding crunch in paragraphs 4-7 and additional details about
the funding in paragraph 8)
May 9 (Reuters) - Electric vehicle (EV) startup Faraday
Future Intelligent Electric on Tuesday said it was
raising $100 million in debt as it aims to achieve initial
deliveries of its flagship FF 91 Futurist vehicle after a
funding crunch led to multiple delays.
The company said it will also use the new debt funding to
ramp up production.
"This round of financing commitments is expected to provide
the Company with capital to support our FF 91 delivery
milestone, sales and service system development, as well as
support our near-term production ramp-up goals," Xuefeng Chen,
the global CEO of Faraday Future, said.
In April, Faraday Future had pushed back the initial
deliveries of the FF 91 Futurist by another two months, saying
at that time that they would depend on "substantial additional
financing".
Deliveries were originally slated to start in late 2022.
The Los-Angeles based company has been struggling with a
cash crunch and a board reshuffle following a governance dispute
with one of its largest shareholders, FF Top Holding. Last
November, Faraday Future raised doubts about its ability to
continue as a "going concern".
However, the company managed to secure enough funds in
February to begin the vehicle's much-delayed production.
FF Global Partners (FFGP), a partnership of current and
former executives of the company, has committed $80 million to
this debt financing round as an anchor investor. Other investors
include Metaverse Horizon Limited and V W Investment Holding.
(Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi
Aich and Janane Venkatraman)
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