Fisker gets an infusion of Mideast cash
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The left and the right are in agreement: Neither wants oil from the Middle East.
‘My friends, I will have an energy policy, that we will be talking about, which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East.” -- John McCain, May 2
‘I will set a clear goal as president: In 10 years we will finally end our dependence on oil in the Middle East.’ -- Barack Obama, Aug. 28
Apparently, some folks in the Middle East want to be freed from oil dependence as well.
Irvine-based plug-in electric hybrid carmaker Fisker Automotive Inc. announced today that it had closed a $65-million round of financing led by an affiliate of the Qatar Investment Authority, a state-owned, state-funded sovereign wealth fund. The QIA’s goal is to ‘strengthen the country’s economy by diversifying into new asset classes.’ That makes it the fourth alternative car company or alternative car supplier to receive financing from the Middle East....
In December, Ontario-based Phoenix Motorcars received an undisclosed sum from Dubai investment house and trading group Al Yousuf, LLC.
Al Yousuf also has invested about $5.5 million in Santa Rosa-based electric car company Zap Inc. In exchange for the investments, Eqbal Al Yousuf, president of Al Yousuf, was named chairman of Zap in May and put on the board of directors of Phoenix in March.
And in December, Al Yousuf put $40 million into Reno, Nev.-based electric car battery maker Altair Nanotechnologies Inc., which at the time had a contract to supply batteries to Phoenix.
The Fisker investment, which closed Thursday, was joined by venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which already had a substantial investment in the company. Fisker revealed its sleek plug-in prototype at the Detroit auto show in January and has pledged to begin selling the $80,000 vehicle by the fourth quarter of 2009. That could make it the first company to market a plug-in.
Qatar’s main source of wealth is petroleum -- it’s one of the world’s leading exporters of liquefied natural gas. The $60-billion Qatar Investment Authority has made investments in banking, real estate and engineering, as well as sizable projects in infrastructure in countries such as Libya and Indonesia. The company’s website does not have a complete list of investments, but Fisker appears to be its first investment in automobiles.
The QIA did not release a statement on the news. Fisker came out with the usual press release quotable: ‘This shows once again that Fisker Automotive has a solid business plan and a globally experienced automotive team with very strong investors behind the company, said Henrik Fisker, CEO, Fisker Automotive, Inc.’
But for those who think General Motors Corp. killed the nickel-metal hydride battery, this trend certainly provides fodder for wild theorizing. Or maybe folks from the Middle East just like cool cars.
-- Ken Bensinger