THE DEVELOPER OF ELECTRIC VEHICLES WAS OFFICIALLY DECLARED BANKRUPT

Arrival has been granted bankruptcy status. The electric car development project failed to meet its obligations to creditors. The startup, having not established the production of electric vehicles, was declared insolvent in a Luxembourg court. Information about this appeared on the SEC (US Securities Commission) website. Philippe Thibault was entrusted to manage the affairs of the organization.

The company was first registered in the UK in 2015. Until 2017, it was called Charge R&D. Its founders were the Russian ex-deputy Minister of Communications Denis Sverdlov (he held this position in 2013) and the former top manager of the bus manufacturing company Optare Glen Saint. Sverdlov was the head of the company until June 5, 2015.

The appearance of a foreign startup was preceded by the registration of a Russian legal entity. The company "Errival Software", headed by Sergey Malygin, appeared in St. Petersburg back in 2014.

In 2017-2018, the investment project signed agreements with Royal Mail (the British postal service) and UPS (a logistics operator from the USA). Both partners expected to receive electric trucks from Arrival in order to test them in major cities of Europe and America.

By this time, two companies had appeared in the capital of the Russian Federation: Erraival Management Systems and Erraival Distribution Platforms. They were tasked with developing computer software for the project. Dmitry Bulantsev, a former bank employee, became the owner of both structures.

The successful launch allowed the company to attract large investments from several funds. In October 2020, the firm received $118 million from structures managed by BlackRock. The company's capitalization in the best years exceeded $13 billion. It was assumed that a network of compact factories producing electric vehicles would be created.

In 2022, the organization had to cut down to a third of its specialists. Despite receiving $300 million from Westwood Capital in the spring of 2023, the company turned out to be unprofitable. In six months, the startup has missed more than $155 million. By November, Arrival's management began to look for potential business buyers. The company's shares were withdrawn from stock trading (the largest IPO and merger with CIIG Merger Corp. allowed the firm to trade securities through Nasdaq starting March 25, 2021).

The British division of the company introduced external management in the organization at the beginning of 2024. He was assigned to specialists from one of Ernst & Young's divisions. Denis Sverdlov, who was once the first head of the ex-owner of the Yota brand, left Arrival Group back in 2022, anticipating bankruptcy.