EVCo’s electric vans and leasing contracts sold as part of liquidation

SINGAPORE – EVCo, the electric van leasing company that went into liquidation in March, has been sold for an undisclosed sum to Pan Pacific Leasing Group.

Pan Pacific Leasing, a commercial vehicle leasing company, completed the deal on June 3 to take over EVCo’s fleet of 529 electric vehicles (EVs) and existing leasing contracts. But EVCo’s creditors have to wait longer before they can be paid, as the liquidation process has not ended.

EVCo, also known as Strides DST, was incorporated in March 2022 with a paid-up capital of $10 million. It was 60 per cent owned by transport operator SMRT’s business arm Strides Holdings and 40 per cent by Dishangtie Green Technology (Hong Kong).

In a statement, SMRT’s Strides Digital said it will be working with Pan Pacific Leasing to provide digital fleet management services for the EVs that were previously from EVCo and for future projects.

A spokesman for Pan Pacific Leasing said the service includes software to help business owners know the environmental impact of using EVs compared with conventional internal combustion engine vehicles, in terms of carbon emissions.

Baker Tilly, the appointed liquidator, said the sale of EVCo’s vehicles is not the end of the liquidation process as there are “further assets and claims to be realised”.

Mr Timothy Reid, a principal at the accountancy and business advisory firm, said the total amount due to creditors has not been confirmed.

“Creditors need to file claims, and these need to be adjudicated before any interim distribution can be made,” he said.

Mr Reid declined to comment when asked to elaborate on the number of creditors or sums owed.

The Straits Times had reported that as at Feb 28,

EVCo has 28 creditors with $49.4 million due to them

. It is not known if more creditors have come forward since then.

EVCo was declared insolvent several months after its

chief executive Fuji Foo and former chief financial officer Janice Low

were arrested in connection with a police investigation in late 2023.

Neither Baker Tilly nor Pan Pacific Leasing disclosed the value of the deal when asked. Pan Pacific’s spokesman would say only that the EVs were bought at “around market value”.

Checks by ST found six units of the Shineray X30L electric vans for sale on online classified site Sgcarmart. EVCo was the only company to have imported this brand of vehicle to Singapore. These vehicles, registered on the last two days of March 2023, are listed for sale at between $80,800 and $81,800.

They each qualify for a $10,000 rebate from the Land Transport Authority in March 2025 as they come under the earlier version of the Commercial Vehicle Emissions Scheme. The incentive was cut for commercial vehicles registered from April 1, 2023.

According to Pan Pacific Leasing, about half of the EVs it took over are being used by clients. The majority of these leases have around four more years to go and there will be no changes to the terms of the contract, its spokesman said.

Pan Pacific Leasing expects to be able to find hirers for the unused vehicles within the next three months.

Besides Shineray, the vehicles sold to Pan Pacific Leasing also included models from brands such as Maxus, which is another Chinese EV brand, and Toyota.

With the purchase, Pan Pacific Leasing has around 700 electric vans in its fleet of 3,200 light goods vehicles.