Naked Shareholders Approve EV Acquisition

Shareholders at Naked Brand Group Limited “overwhelmingly approved” the acquisition of the Cenntro electric vehicle company in late December, as part of an abrupt shift that is expected to lead to the company’s exit from the lingerie business.

As of its December 21 announcement, the company confirmed it “currently anticipates the Proposed Transaction to close by year end of 2021.” When Naked announced the acquisition plan in November it stated it “intends to divest its FOH Online business,” which is comprised of the licensed Frederick’s of Hollywood lingerie business.

Justin Davis-Rice, chairman and CEO of Naked stated “we are pleased with the strong vote of confidence by our shareholders to approve the acquisition of Cenntro, an early pioneer in artificial intelligent (“AI”) autonomous driving and a leading designer and manufacturer of electric light and medium-duty commercial vehicles (“ECV”). This transaction provides Cenntro with working capital to support a substantial backlog, fast-tracks the pathway to a public company and introduces them to our loyal and enthusiastic shareholder base. After selling and delivering more ECVs than any other EV company, Cenntro is ready to scale deliveries to an estimated 74,800 vehicle sales to leading consumer companies in 2023 with revenue of $2.1 billion.”

“With a recently closed $20.0 million private placement, Naked anticipates having the funds required to close the acquisition and will not raise additional capital in the short term, resulting in the termination of a previously disclosed at-the-market offering of up to $300.0 million. We look forward to closing the transaction by year end and positioning the combined company at the forefront of the technology transformation of the ECV market.” —NM