One week after Mobius Motors, a Kenya-based automaker backed by Playfair Capital, introduced it was shutting down, the corporate has accepted an acquisition provide from an undisclosed purchaser.
“On August 14, Mobius accepted a bid for the acquisition of 100% of its shares by an undisclosed purchaser. Each events wish to shut the transaction inside 30 days,” stated Nicolas Guibert, a Mobius director, in a discover.
Following the provide, Mobius has postponed a gathering with its collectors, which is scheduled for Thursday, to permit acquisition negotiations to proceed.
The purchaser could also be trying to make use of the corporate’s meeting plant in Nairobi to supply their fashions or proceed with the Mobius vehicles, which goal SMEs in infrastructure, agribusiness, and provides working in distant areas.
On August 9, Enterprise Every day reported that two sellers have been contemplating buying the cash-strapped automobile maker with the prospect of rescuing the model.
This got here after Hassan Abubakar, Everlasting Secretary for Commerce and Trade, stated he and the Kenya Affiliation of Producers (KAM) visited the corporate’s plant to debate a attainable rescue plan.
Mobius boasts an expansive manufacturing facility able to fabricating car frames, anti-corrosion therapy, normal meeting, portray, high quality testing, and closing inspection. The power additionally homes a analysis and improvement unit.
The corporate has a distributorship settlement with Chinese language automaker BAIC, which was instrumental within the launch of Mobius III, a sophisticated model of its earlier fashions, Mobius I and Mobius II.
Based in 2009 by British nationwide Joel Jackson whereas working in Kenya, Mobius pioneered a stripped-down SUV mannequin “constructed for African roads” in 2014. The primary mannequin price $10,000 (KES 1.3 million), considerably decrease than the market costs of normal SUVs in Kenya. The Mobius III was retailing at $43,000, in comparison with imported and regionally assembled Toyota Land Cruiser Prados, Land Rover Defenders, and Jeep Wranglers, which price greater than $65,000.