Coda Automotive, the Santa Monica, Calif.-based electric car company, has secured $394 million in long-term financing, including a $294 million line of credit from China’s Bank of Tianjin Joint-Stock Co. The company also secured a $100 million in equity financing, company CEO Kevin Czinger anounced in a blog entry published this morning.
Coda secured the financing as part of its joint venture with Chinese lithium ion cell maker Lishen Power Battery.
PeHUB, reports that Coda previously raised over $75 million in VC funding from the Angeleno Group, company founder Miles Rubin, Coda co-chair Mac Heller, CEO Kevin Czinger. Other investors include former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulsen, John Bryson (ex-Edison International CEO), Mack McLarty, the former chief of staff for President Clinton, and Thomas Steyer, the founder of Farallon Capital Management.
With Western banks still skittish about lending, Coda is turning to China, whose banks are liquid and eager to lend and back domestic companies, in this case, Lishen Power. The deal also makes sense, considering that Coda plans to manufacturer its low-cost electric cars in China for sale to the North American market.
Paulson’s notorious close ties with China’s government and business elite, also helps explain Coda’s China-centered financing.