Following the court of Weilheim’s approval of the insolvency filing of Lilium’s German subsidiaries, and the court’s granting of Lilium’s application for self-administration, Lilium has appointed KPMG to conduct an open, transparent and fair M&A process. First investor briefings will start soon.

Preliminary insolvency proceedings under self-administration are court-ordered restructuring proceedings aimed at preserving the business. The management remains in charge and leads the business through the proceedings, supported by restructuring experts.

The court has therefore appointed to the German subsidiaries’ boards of management, with immediate effect, two restructuring-experienced lawyers as chief insolvency officers (CIOs), Prof Dr Gerrit Hölzle and Dr Thorsten Bieg. Both have already successfully advised a large number of companies in crisis situations. They will now oversee the reorganisation of Lilium’s German subsidiaries.

The local court of Weilheim has also appointed attorney Ivo-Meinert Willrodt, managing partner at PLUTA Rechtsanwalts, as the provisional custodian. The restructuring expert is an attorney and specialist lawyer for insolvency and restructuring law, and has already acted as trustee for the solar car start-up Sono Motors and drone manufacturer EMT. His role is to protect the interests of creditors during the proceedings.

Lilium CEO Klaus Roewe welcomes the appointments: “With the support of our appointed custodian and the restructuring experts, we at Lilium remain fully focused on re-emerging following restructuring, with fresh investment to support the all-electric Lilium Jet’s path to certification and entry into service.”

Work at Lilium subsidiaries continues, with the more than 1,000 employees engaged in progressing towards the next significant programme milestone, first manned flight, having been informed on the details of continued employee payment. The business has also informed affected suppliers, outlining expectations and procedural steps.

The first two Lilium Jets are currently on the final assembly line, with the first aircraft having recently completed the initial low-voltage power-on milestone and due to advance shortly into the ground testing phase. The fuselage and wings of the third aircraft are currently in assembly at aerostructures suppliers Aciturri and Aernnova. At the end of October, Lilium engineers moved a fully assembled, conforming Lilium Jet airframe into the static test rig for structural testing; a significant advance for the programme. The structural strength test is an essential part of the testing plan for first manned flight and type certification.

The current order pipeline consists of firm orders, reservations, options and MoUs for more than 780 Lilium Jets to operators in the US, South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Lilium has been notified by NASDAQ that share and warrant trading will be suspended at the opening of business on 6 November. Following trading suspension, the company’s ordinary shares may commence trading over the counter, which may result in significantly lower trading volumes and could further depress the share price.

Lilium’s board of directors has authorised Lilium's listed entity, the Netherlands-registered public limited liability company (naamloze vennootschap) to file for insolvency.