Struggling electric truck maker Nikola has postponed its annual meeting to July 18, giving the company time to lobby shareholders to approve a measure to raise money to issue more common shares.
Nikola said the proposal is important to support the growth of the business. The company was slowed down in bringing its Bamboo pickup truck to market by a series of controversies stemming from founder Trevor Milton, which resulted in his removal as CEO and a $125 million fine. dollars to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for misleading investors.
Nikola originally held its annual shareholder meeting on June 1. It was postponed after Milton, who was indicted last year over charges three counts of fraud for misleading investors with misleading statements, rejected the proposal. Nikola resumed his meeting on June 30 and then adjourned it to give shareholders more time to vote on the proposal.
The meeting was rescheduled for mid-July to gather more votes on a proposal that would allow Nikola to increase the number of authorized common shares to 800 million, up from 600 million.
Nikola said more than 48% of the total shares outstanding have been voted in favor, but more than 112 million shares have yet to be voted on.
Mark Russell, CEO, said in a statement that approving the common stock increase will provide “the flexibility to support the future growth and development of our business.
“Nikola shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favor of Proposition 2, with the exception of one shareholder vote which appeared to represent more than 85% of the votes against Proposition 2,” the company said.
“The approval of Proposition 2, which requires the approval of the majority of all ordinary shares outstanding, is critical,” the statement said.
