Fisker Automotive sold to Hong Kong based investor firm

Fisker Automotive, the makers of the Fisker Karma, the highly acclaimed plug-in Hybrid has reportedly been sold to a Hong-Kong based investor firm owned by Richard Li. In 2009, Fisker was awarded a $529 million loan from the United States Department of Energy under a U.S. program to promote green vehicles. Fisker also got the backing of prominent investors world over and won rave reviews for both it's design and the Karma's plug-in hybrid. 

In mid-2011, the Department of Energy halted payments to Fisker as the latter cited various delays in the launch of the Karma despite over 3,000 pre-bookings. In 2012, amidst a shaky launch and news about the Doepartment of Energy's taking away funding, many senior Fisker executives in cluding do-founder Henrik Fisker resigned. The Li group was also an intiial investor in Karma Automotive group worked closely with Henrik Fisker in the past and after his departure from his company, has continued to work with Li's group. 

The Department of Energy decided to auction Fisker's green-energy loan on Friday after they said they 'exhausting any realistic posibility' that it could recover the amount owed by Fisker. Fisker Automotive has not made a single car for about 15 months and had laid of most of it's employees in April to save costs. 

Li's group has reportedly beaten two other groups that were in the run to acquire Fisker. Although the exact value of Li's bid has not been made public, bidders had to offer at least $30 million to particilate in the Fisker Loan deal. The U.S. Department of Engery has said that the winner would be publicly announced as soon as negotiations were completed and the sale was finalised.