According to news on October 9, yesterday evening, Evergrande Automobile issued an announcement stating that the company will resume trading on October 9. The Newton Group's shareholding announced on August 14 "may not be carried out." Newton Group's original strategic investment of US$500 million needs to be renegotiated. The announcement shows that on September 29, 2023, Evergrande Motors received a letter from Newton Group (NWTTN Inc.), which included:
1. In view of the fact that Evergrande Automobile announced the suspension of trading in its shares on September 28, 2023, together with a series of recent changes in China Evergrande Group, there is significant uncertainty, which will also bring significant uncertainty to the share subscription agreement and the proposed transaction. According to the share subscription agreement, the completion of Evergrande Group's debt restructuring and a series of other prerequisites are very important prerequisites for delivery. In this case, the subscriber shall suspend the performance of relevant obligations in the share subscription agreement.
2. According to the transitional financial support agreement, due to the current situation that causes the prerequisites under the share subscription agreement to be unable to be met, Newton (Zhejiang) Automobile Co., Ltd. (fund provider) has not been able to meet the prerequisites for paying the second and third tranches of funds to Evergrande New Energy Automobile (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. (fund recipient). The fund provider is temporarily not obligated to pay the second and third tranches of funds to the fund recipient.
3. The subscriber Newton Group hopes that Evergrande Automobile will reply to clarify the following issues, including: the debt restructuring plan of Evergrande Group involved in the share subscription agreement needs to be readjusted, and there are plans to launch a new restructuring plan; China Evergrande Group, Evergrande Automobile, creditors and related parties are willing to renegotiate the adjustments required for the proposed transaction plan on the premise that the new restructuring plan is clear.
4. The subscriber confirms that the letter does not constitute a notice to terminate the share subscription agreement, and as of the date of the letter, there is no request to terminate the share subscription agreement.
On October 5, 2023, Evergrande Automobile sent a reply letter to the subscriber, expressing its willingness to renegotiate with the subscriber on the adjustments required for the proposed transaction plan.
The board of directors of Evergrande Automobile believes that Evergrande Automobile currently has no other inside information that needs to be announced.
According to previous announcements, on the evening of August 14, Evergrande Motors announced that it had entered into a share subscription agreement with Newton Group. Newton Group planned to subscribe for 6.177 billion shares of the company at a total price of HK$3.89 billion (equivalent to US$500 million). Evergrande Motors introduced the background of Newton Group as "Middle East Capital".