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Majernik & Mihalikova and White & Case Advise on Investment into Slovakian Flying Car Company

Majernik & Mihalikova and White & Case Advise on Investment into Slovakian Flying Car Company

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Majernik & Mihalikova has advised private investor Patrick Hessel on his investment into AeroMobil, a Bratislava-based developer of flying cars. White & Case advised AeroMobil co-founder Stefan Klein on the deal, while co-founder Juraj Vaculik was represented by the Carpathian Advisory Group. The size and value of Hessel's stake in the company was not disclosed.

Investor LRJ Capital, which entered AeroMobil two years ago, is leaving the company.   

The AeroMobil car is, according to the company, "designed to comply with all existing regulations for road and air transport and will represent a significant milestone in the worldwide development of a unique vehicle intended for road and air travel." The company plans to present a new AeroMobil prototype in coming days and is expected to start taking pre-orders in the second half of this year. It hopes to deliver the first flying cars at the beginning of 2019.

Hessel is the founder and CEO of c2i, a manufacturer of composite parts of the aerospace and automotive industries. At the end of March he sold 50.1% of c2i to LG Hausys, the company providing automotive light-weight components within LG Group. According to an AeroMobil press release, "c2i is one of the key technology partners and component suppliers for AeroMobil," and "both companies have been working together for several years."

“The development of this vehicle has enough significance to be considered as one of the today’s most innovative and ambitious projects in the automotive and aerospace businesses," said AeroMobil Co-founder and CEO Juraj Vaculik. "However, its transition to the industrial phase depends on additional investments. It is a welcome platform for the inclusion of investors, who understand this breakthrough innovation our unique business model and strategy. Until today, AeroMobil has financed the development of the genuine mathematical and geometric data of the new flying car model, but the new investment will enable the company to develop and showcase a physical model. It will be very close to the final product that will be used in series production. As a result of this extensive engineering and analysis effort, we have a very clear picture as to how our product will function and are very confident that the vehicle we are showing is deliverable without any more significant changes.”

"I am impressed by the advanced degree of engineering design and simulation at AeroMobil," said Hessel. "For the past two years, AeroMobil 3.0 has demonstrated that it already had the capability to fly and drive.  My investment enables the company to move into production on the latest model and prototypes. The team, which has come together at AeroMobil, is absolutely unique and has enormous potential to achieve global change in passenger transport."

The Majernik & Mihalikova team advising Hessel was led by Partner Katarína Mihalikova.

The White & Case team advising Stefan Klein was led by Partner Marek Staron, supported by Associates Zoran Draskovic and Barbora Hrabcakova.

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