Netherlands based Spyker N.V., together with its wholly owned subsidiary
Spyker Automobielen B.V. (collectively "Spyker" or the
"Company"), on January 29, 2015 won an appeal filed on December 29,
2014 with the Appeals Court of Leeuwarden, the Netherlands.
As per the ruling rendered by the Appeals Court, the decision of the
District Court of Midden-Nederland in Lelystad, the Netherlands (the
"Court"), declaring Spyker bankrupt on December 18, 2014, was
overturned and the bankruptcy declared null and void with retrospective
effect.
According to a press release issued by the company, this means that by law
Spyker was never bankrupt and that the Company has, with immediate effect,
returned to the moratorium of payment status, in which it was since the
Court granted Spyker that protection on December 2, 2014.
On that day, Spyker filed a voluntary
petition for temporary moratorium of payment ("surseance van
betaling"), the Dutch equivalent of the American Chapter 11 procedure, in
an effort to address certain short-term operational and liquidity challenges.
When expected bridge funding did not arrive timely, the Court appointed
administrator who, together with the Board of Management, bears final responsibility
for the management of the Company as long as the legal moratorium of payment
status is in force, filed a request with the Court to convert the moratorium of
payment to bankruptcy, the release said. .
Fortunately, in the days following the
bankruptcy ruling, the bridge funding did come in, which provided a solid
foundation for lodging an appeal with the Appeals Court on December 29th,2014. Victor
R. Muller, Spyker's Founder and Chief Executive Officer said: “On December 18th, last, perhaps the
blackest day in our 15 year history, I announced that as far as I was
concerned, this was not the end and we would live up to our commitment to
relentlessly endeavour to resurrect Spyker as soon as practically possible. But
even I could not foresee at the time how quickly and unscathed Spyker would
emerge from a situation which usually heralds the end of an era. The Appeals
Court's ruling has eradicated the bankruptcy and put Spyker back in
"Chapter 11". Since we spent the time between lodging the appeal and
today's ruling to reach an agreement with the majority of our creditors, we
should see Spyker exit moratorium of payment in a matter of weeks.
“Following that exit we will forthwith pursue the execution of our plans which
include the introduction of the Spyker B6 Venator, our entry-level luxury
sports car which will give a larger audience access to the Spyker brand, and
the merger with a US based manufacturer of high performance electric aircraft,
the exciting new sustainable and disruptive technologies of which will find
their way into full electric Spyker cars in the foreseeable future.
“I again wish to express my gratitude to our
customers, dealers, suppliers and of course our shareholders, employees and
Board. Their loyalty and support was vital to build the brand over the past
decade and a half and has now proven invaluable to achieve the overturning of
the bankruptcy ruling and subsequent exit from moratorium so we can continue
building our business for many decades to come.”