FRANKFURT—The group of investors seeking to take over electric aircraft manufacturer Lilium plans to invest more than €200 million ($205 million) into the insolvent company.
Mobile Uplift Corporation (MUC) also said in a statement Jan. 2 that it expects the transaction to close “in the first quarter.”
The group, led by Munich-based private equity firm General Capital and its CEO Philipp Schoeller, agreed to buy Lilium’s operating assets on Dec. 24. Primary investors are a fund managed by U.S. private equity group Fifth Wall and a yet-unnamed European financial investor. General Capital and Earlybird, the initial MUC backers, also are participating with small stakes, as are battery producer CustomCells and some of Lilium’s creditors and pre-insolvency shareholders.
Notably Tencent, so far Lilium’s biggest investor, has stayed away from the group of new owners and would no longer own a stake in the company upon emergence from the insolvency proceedings.
Mobile Uplift said that “saving Lilium is of central importance for aviation in Bavaria and Germany.” The group warned that “the partners are aware of the magnitude of the risks and challenges, but the loss of a company like Lilium would be fatal for Germany and Europe. A lot has to come together so that the newly begun reset of Lilium can be brought to a successful conclusion, but the investors are firmly decided to use every chance.”
Mobile Uplift is temporarily run by Schoeller as the founding CEO, but industry sources say Klaus Roewe plans to run the newly formed company in the future. The company highlighted in its statement that it considers the Lilium Jet to be “far more than an air taxi.” Mobile Uplift instead sees the aircraft in a broad range of applications including replacement of helicopters, scheduled regional or emergency medical services.
Challenges include many formalities of the German insolvency legislation. Among others, creditor committees of two Lilium subsidiaries still have to be formed and subsequently have to approve the asset sale to Mobile Uplift. The process could take until the end of the first quarter, which leaves significant uncertainty for Lilium’s former employees, almost all of whom were laid off on Dec. 20.
The new investors have to hope that most of them are prepared to be rehired once the new structures are in place and not too many have accepted jobs elsewhere in the meantime. Also, Lilium’s new owners have to bet on important suppliers remaining on board with the program.
Lilium has spent almost €1.5 billion from start to build-up of the first few prototypes for the flight test campaign. The Mobile Uplift statement says the capital increase is intended to finance operations until maturity, presumably meaning certification. The statement implies that the group believes €200-300 million is enough to see the program through to entry-into-service.
Lilium was going to fly the production-standard seven seat version of the Lilium Jet for the first time in early 2025, but that schedule must now be slipping by at least several months even if the restart of the company takes place as planned.
The amount now agreed to be injected into Lilium is similar in size to a capital increase planned by original Lilium shareholders in 2024 but made contingent on government-backed loan guarantees at the time. The budget committee in the federal parliament ended up rejecting the application, one important factor that led Lilium to file for insolvency at the end of October 2024.
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