A former American electric vehicle (EV) highflyer that was later commandeered by China-linked owners appears to be running out of fuel. Phoenix Motor Inc., which is owned by SPI Energy Co. Ltd. (SPI.US), said earlier this month it is moving ahead with a plan to list on the Nasdaq, according to an updated prospectus. But the cash Phoenix hopes to raise is a fraction of what was planned five months ago – a telling sign of investor jitters and SPI’s own checkered past.
SPI first announced plans to spin off Phoenix and raise up to $150 million by selling as many as 20 million shares last November. But it seems investors weren’t too excited, and now that plan has been sharply downsized to a meager $20 million fundraising target by selling up to 2.5 million shares between $7 and $9 each.
The updated prospectus also showed Phoenix has replaced U.S. underwriters Maxim Group, Roth Capital, and EF Hutton with China specialist Prime Number Capital. Phoenix designs, assembles, and integrates electric drive systems and EVs, and also sells EV chargers. It was a relatively early arrival to the sector, delivering its first commercial EV back in 2014. But things haven’t gone so smoothly since then, with the company delivering just 104 EVs as of last year, according to Renaissance Capital.