Electrical truck maker Lordstown Motors Corp. stated on Thursday it appointed Daniel Ninivaggi as its CEO with speedy impact, handing over the corporate’s reins to a key former worker of activist investor Carl Icahn at a time it’s dealing with intense regulatory scrutiny and manufacturing challenges.
The corporate’s founder and former CEO Steve Burns and CFO Julio Rodriguez resigned in June following the board’s conclusions from an inner investigation into claims made by short-seller Hindenburg Analysis.
In March, Lordstown’s shares slumped after Hindenburg disclosed that it had taken a brief place on the inventory, saying the corporate had misled traders. Lordstown has beforehand warned it wants to lift extra capital.
Ninivaggi, 57, was the previous CEO of Icahn Enterprises LP, managed by Carl Icahn. Whereas working for Icahn, Ninivaggi was Co-Chairman and Co-CEO of Federal Mogul Holdings Corp., an $8 billion provider of powertrain, chassis, sealing, brake and different automotive elements, previous to its sale to Tenneco Inc. in 2018.
Ninivaggi is not affiliated with Icahn, a Lordstown spokeswman advised Automotive Information in an e-mail.
Ninivaggi, who serves because the chairman for autoparts maker Garrett Movement Inc., has additionally been a director at corporations together with Motorola Mobility, Navistar Worldwide and Hertz World Holdings.
Final month, Lordstown stated a hedge fund had dedicated to buying as much as $400 million of the startup’s shares over a three-year interval. Executives stated that the agency was exploring different financing choices, together with debt.
Lordstown, which hung the “open for enterprise” signal on its northeastern Ohio plant earlier this month, has struggled with the launch of its Endurance pickup truck.
Lordstown nonetheless faces scrutiny from federal prosecutors in Manhattan and officers with the U.S. Securities and Trade Fee associated to its merger with a special-purpose acquisition firm and statements it beforehand made about preorders for its autos.
Shares in Lordstown have been rising in premarket buying and selling.
Automotive Information contributed to this report.