Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Spyker Cars NV, the Dutch maker of luxury sports cars, rose the most ever in Amsterdam trading after signing a letter of intent with ACI Ltd., a group of private investors, to refinance the company.
Spyker soared 1.59 euros, or 58 percent, to 4.34 euros in the biggest daily increase since the stock started trading on May 27, 2004. The gain pared the shares' drop in 2007 to 77 percent.
``Spyker needs funding to develop new cars,'' interim Chief Executive Officer Hans Hugenholtz said in an interview today. ``Buying a stake in the company could be part of the refinance plans. The potential ACI stake won't exceed 30 percent.''
A shortfall in car production last year and the purchase of the unprofitable Midland Formula One racing team in September 2006 led Spyker to negotiate a refinancing in May and pledge its brand name to secure a loan from Friesland Bank NV. Founder Victor Muller, who stepped down as CEO on May 21, doesn't intend to sell his stake in Spyker, he said today.
Spyker will get 48 million euros ($70.8 million) from ACI, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported today, citing unidentified people at the carmaker. The investor wants to purchase a 26 percent stake in the company from the Mol family for 5 euros a share and will offer other shareholders 4 euros to get 54 percent of Spyker, according to the newspaper's Web site.
Hugenholtz declined to comment on the newspaper report. He said Spyker is talking with ``a larger number'' of investors, according to a company statement.
Earlier Disposal
Spyker fell 9.2 percent on Sept. 25 after Muller sold 25,700 shares for 2.99 euros apiece, according to a Sept. 20 filing on the Web site of Dutch market regulator AFM.
``If they offer me 4 euros or 5,000 euros per share, I don't want to sell my stake,'' Muller said today in a telephone interview. He owned 14.81 percent of Spyker stock on July 7, an AFM filing showed.
Spyker said on Sept. 20 it agreed to sell its unprofitable Formula One team for 88 million euros to Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya and former Chief Executive Officer Michiel Mol's Strongwind group. Spyker bought Midland Formula 1 Racing Ltd. last year from billionaire Alex Shnaider for $106.6 million.
The company said on Aug. 14 that Mol would step down and forecast a full-year loss because of higher-than-expected costs related to the racing team.
