WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) disclosed in a regulatory filing on Wednesday that it has to pay $422 million to its bondholders in the third quarter, and that it will raise additional money by the end of the year. The purpose of the additional capital, among other things, is to support its proposed merger with home-solar company SolarCity Corp. Elon Musk is the chairman of both companies.
The filing also revealed that in recent weeks, 15 institutional investors passed on either acquiring SolarCity or injecting equity into it. The company is having difficulty tapping the public markets amid the proposed merger and is facing a liquidity squeeze, the filing indicated. SolarCity's cash declined to $146 million on June 30, from $421 million a year earlier, the company has reported.
Before the bond deal was announced, SolarCity's advisers had asked Tesla to 'consider providing SolarCity with short-term financing' amid the pending merger deal, according to Wednesday's filing. Mr. Musk said the bond sale was a better option.
Tesla said in Wednesday's filing it could issue up to 15 million shares to pay SolarCity shareholders to acquire their company. The stock-swap offer now values SolarCity at $24.16 per share. Shareholders of both companies are likely to vote on the proposed deal in October.
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