$2 Billion Chinese Investment In Faraday Future Cleared By U.S. Committee

Faraday Future has revealed additional details about the investment that saved it from extinction in 2017, confirming that Evergrande Health, a subsidiary of Evergrande Group, acquired a 45 per cent stake in the company for $2 billion.

Faraday Future co-founder and chief executive Jia Yueting first announced the investment late last year, but failed to divulge details.

In a public filling, Evergrande Group said that its investment had been reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) on June 18th and been given the all clear. CFIUS investigates foreign companies’ involvement with U.S. firms to protect national security interests.

The Verge reports that Faraday Future has received $800 million of the investment so far. The remaining $1.2 billion will be provided in two $600 million parts if Faraday Future meets certain goals.

The first goals have to be achieved on or before December 31st, 2019 to get the first $600 million, and the second on or before December 31st, 2020 to receive the rest of the amount. Details of the goals Faraday Future must reach haven’t been disclosed.

The company behind Evergrande Group’s investment is Season Smart Limited, which is registered in the British Virgin Islands. This company sits atop all the companies created by Jia Yueting involved in Faraday Future. Season Smart Limited and Faraday’s top holding company, FF Top Holding, were to hold a 78 per cent share in the electric automaker through a joint venture. Evergrande Group will take over that joint venture and therefore Season Smart Limited’s 45 per cent stake.

Towards the end of 2017, roughly half of Faraday’s workforce left the company as it looked as if the firm was going to declare bankruptcy.

While the investment is encouraging, the company still has a long way to go before starting deliveries of its first electric vehicle, the FF 91. Last December, Faraday Future announced that it had secured over 64,000 reservations just days after the FF 91’s world premiere in CES 2017, when the model was available to order by placing a $5,000 refundable deposit. Since then, though, the electric startup has been embroiled in all sorts of financial and legal battles and only recently announced its plans to start building its plant in California this August.