All the incidents of Micromobility (formerly Helbiz) which steers towards the Caymans due to debts
Micromobility (formerly Helbiz) asks the Cayman-based fund YA II PN to cover its debts. But the stock is suspended on the Nasdaq. Facts, numbers and insights
Bad news for Micromobility (formerly Helbiz).
The stock of Micromobility.com, the former Helbiz sharing company (founded by Salvatore Palella) known for scooters, was suspended on the Nasdaq because it traded below the minimum price of one dollar for 30 consecutive days and failed to respect the basic net worth requirement. Micromobility.com tried to react by moving its ordinary shares and warrants to one of the unregulated markets managed by Otc Markets Group and postponed – as a note explains – the extraordinary meeting "to allow the board of directors to continue evaluating corporate governance and the operational strategy for the future."
“Not even the stock split at the end of November, with a ratio of 150 to 1, managed to allow the former Helbiz to respect the minimum price”, comments the Corriere della sera , which adds: “Micromobility.com closed the first nine months of the year with 9 million in revenues, but a significant debt that it is trying to reduce: operating expenses in the January-September period fell by 66%, while the third quarter net loss improved to 9.5 million (-61 %) and as of 30 September the financial liabilities also fell to 27.2 million".
But what was the recent maneuver on the debt? YA II PN fund reduces debt of Micromobility.com Inc. (formerly Helbiz). The company, a holding company that also includes the Helbiz brand, signed an agreement (a Settlement and Release Agreement) with Securis Investment Partners LLP last November 27, 2023 which allowed the extinction of a large part of its debts and the repayment of a previous Loan and Guarantee Agreement for a total of $3,595,000.
THE YA II PN FUND “SAVES” HELBIZ FROM DEBT
The company, to free itself from part of the debts, entered into an Assignment and Release Agreement with YA II PN Ltd on 8 December 2023. Which resulted in the cancellation of 9,250,000 in debt, in addition to all accrued interest and unpaid. In this way Micromobility no longer has debts of 15 million dollars but "only" 5,750,000 dollars. “This debt reduction is not only a very important financial result, but represents a fundamental strategic move that pushes us towards our profitability objective – commented CEO Salvatore Palella -. The significant reduction of our debt burden represents a fundamental step in our path aimed at becoming a sustainable and profitable reality in the urban mobility sector".
Gian Luca Spriano, interim CFO, was also satisfied: “This restructuring is a testimony to our strategic financial planning and execution capacity – said Spriano -. Debt reduction improves our balance sheet and positions us for accelerated growth. We are now better structured to focus on our business objectives and aim for long-term profitability."
WHAT YORKVILLE ADVISORS AND YA II PN DO
Yorkville Advisors is an American financial company, active since 2001 headed by the Italian American Mark Angelo. Ya II Pn, Ltd, which financed the operation with micromobility.com, is a hedge fund based in the Cayman Islands, managed by Yorkville Advisors Global, Lp with assets of approximately 9.8 million dollars.
FROM HELBIZ TO MICROMOBILITY: THE REBRANDING OF THE SCOOTER COMPANY
In April 2023 Helbiz changed its name to Micromobility.com. “The new look represents the company's commitment to position itself as the main brand in the sector for sales, rental and sharing and as a consolidator for future M&A maneuvers,” read a statement from Salvatore Palella's micromobility company. “We are pleased to announce the rebranding to micromobility.com Inc. and the launch of the new retail business – said Salvatore Palella , CEO of micromobility.com Inc. -. We aspire to become the predominant brand in the world offering the best vehicles, accessories and services in the industry." Alongside the name change, the company has started a retail sales activity in physical stores, for the moment only in the United States which complements e-commerce.
HELBIZ NUMBERS
Of course, Helbiz's numbers are not mind-boggling, hence the use of financing from the Ya II PN fund. “In Italy, streaming, led by Matteo Mammì, lost 8.5 million euros between 2021 and 2022 and closed its business – writes Italia Oggi -; with the rental of scooters and bikes it lost 16 million euros in Italy between 2021 and 2022; with Helbiz kitchen red foods by 3.5 million between 2021 and 2022”. The company closed the third quarter of 2022 with a loss of $24.5 million (down from $28.3); losses in the first nine months exceeded 63 million compared to 50 in the same period of 2021. The company lost 63.7 million dollars in nine months on revenues of only 11.3 million.
HELBIZ AND YORKVILLE ADVISOR: DESTINY INTERTWINED
As the newspaper Domani writes, the fate of Helbiz, or rather of micromobility.com, is closely linked to the financial company Yorkville Advisors. “Already at the end of 2021 it had sold convertible bonds for 30 million dollars to the financial company Yorkville Advisors, led by the Italian-American Mark Angelo – writes Domani -; these bonds were entirely converted into 38.2 million securities. In the first nine months of 2022 Helbiz sold another 23 million convertible securities to Yorkville (more precisely to the YA II PN fund), of which 4.3 million were converted into 18 million shares."
THE INVESTMENTS OF THE YA II PN FUND: THE FAILURE OF LORDSTOWN MOTORS
The YA II PN Fund provided $400 million in funding to Lordstown Motors in 2021 to help the start-up launch and accelerate production of its Endurance electric truck. Notably, the Ohio-based start-up and YA II PN Ltd, entered into a stock purchase agreement, in which YA agreed to purchase up to $400 million of Lordstown Class A common stock at a price of $7, 48 per share. The investment came after months of difficulty for the start-up, which had said it could not survive without additional funding. The investment was not enough to save the car company which declared bankruptcy last June. Lordstown wanted to be first to market with an all-electric pickup, a difficult and capital-intensive challenge, especially after purchasing General Motors Co.'s massive facility in Northeast Ohio in late 2019 .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/micromobility-elbiz-debiti-fondo-ya-ii-pn/ on Thu, 28 Dec 2023 05:30:24 +0000.