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The company shut down production at a plant in Illinois last year after undergoing several rounds of layoffs
A group of investors has submitted a revised offer to buy Quebec vehicle-maker Lion Electric, providing a possible lifeline to the beleaguered company.
The new offer comes after the Quebec government refused to inject more public money into the St-Jerome, Que.-based electric-vehicle manufacturer, causing an earlier transaction to fall through.
According to court documents, the buyers have reached an agreement with the Quebec government to renew a recently expired subsidy program for electric school buses. On Friday, they made their new offer to buy the company, which sought protection from its creditors in December.
On May 5, the court-appointed monitor for Lion Electric told a Quebec Superior Court judge that the company would very likely be liquidated following the government’s decision not to provide any more public funds.
The investors had made a previous bid to buy the company, but it was contingent on the Quebec government “agreeing to participate and invest in the operations of the Lion Group going forward,” according to the court documents. Recent news reports said the group of buyers was seeking $24 million from the province to relaunch the company.
On April 30, Quebec Economy Minister Christine Frechette announced it would be irresponsible to offer Lion more public money. She later told reporters she “would have expected the private sector to be more involved.”
Quebec has already invested heavily in Lion Electric, and Premier Francois Legault has said the province stands to lose about $140 million on the company, which manufactured electric school buses and trucks.
Following the hearing last week, Lion Electric continued discussions with the group of investors and with other companies interested in liquidating its assets, the court documents say. On Friday, the investors reached an agreement with the Quebec government to renew a program that had expired in March and offered subsidies to help school bus operators afford the higher cost of electric buses.
That program was integral to Lion’s success in Quebec, where the government has required since 2021 that all new school buses be electric. There are currently about 1,175 Lion school buses on the road in the province.
The new agreement allowed the investors to submit a new offer to buy the company “with minimal conditions,” according to the court documents. The monitor will ask the court Monday afternoon for an extension until Friday to finalize the deal.
Lion Electric has been seeking a buyer since December, with a restructuring plan that would focus only on school buses and return all manufacturing to Quebec. The company shut down production at a plant in Illinois last year after undergoing several rounds of layoffs. It has now laid off all but 12 of its employees.
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