Shuttered Romeo Power manufacturing site leaves $16 million in inventory up for auction
https://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/news/2023/...-ion-battery.html
After moving its battery manufacturing operations to Arizona, $16 million of Romeo Power's inventory is going up for auction.
Thousands of the company’s lithium-ion battery cells will be sold through a Tiger Group Online auction on Sept. 7, along with industrial assets such as Fanuc robots, CNC machines, and assembly and testing equipment, plus the company's intellectual property.
The move follows Romeo Power's acquisition by Phoenix-based electric vehicle manufacturer Nikola Corp. (Nasdaq: NKLA) in 2022, followed by the announcement in January that the Cypress, California, battery manufacturing operations would relocate to Nikola’s plant in Arizona, vacating its 215,000-square-foot EV battery assembly plant in Orange County.
The auction has the scope of an everything-must-go sale. Through the auction, bidders will be able to buy Romeo’s assets turnkey or in combinations of bulk lots, according to John Coelho, senior director of Thousand Oaks, California-based auction house Tiger Commercial & Industrial.
"In addition to the late-model industrial equipment, we are offering some $16 million in inventory, including more than 200,000 Samsung lithium-ion battery cells,” he said in a statement.
Three 2019 Haas VF6 vertical milling machines are also being offered, along with machine-shop assets including drill presses, a 50-ton hydraulic press and various saws, sanders, welders, vices and tools.
Additional assets include hardware, wiring harnesses, cold plates and enclosures, along with junction boxes, connectors, transformers and resistors. Interested parties can also bid on high-end office furniture, a box truck, pallet jacks, late-model compressors, an all-steel panel system, TVs, computers and more.
Romeo Power used the assemble rechargeable, lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, using the equipment to dispense and apply sealant, pick and place components and for welding and assembly. Tiger Auctioneer Wayne Hecht said the variety of high-quality assets could be used across an array of operations, not exclusive to EV-battery manufacturing.
The timed, online auction opens Thursday, Aug. 31, at 10:30 a.m. and closes Sept. 7 at 10:30 a.m. On-site inspections are available by appointment on Wednesday, Sept. 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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