Lucid Motors CEO says EV start-up
Lucid Motors
part1
Lucid Motors began trading Monday on Wall Street after completing its SPAC merger. Under the ticker symbol
LCID, the stock jumped about 10% to more than $26.
The merger with Churchill Capital Corp IV — a special purpose acquisition company created by longtime
investment banker Michael Klein — was officially announced in February and shares of the blank-check company
immediately lost about half their value. On speculation in the weeks leading up to the Lucid deal, Churchill
Capital Corp IV had surged some 400% to an all-time high of $64.86.
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The equity value of the deal paid existing company shareholders $11.75 billion. It also generated over $4 billion
in cash for expansion plans, including Lucida’s current factory in Arizona.
The funding puts Lucid “in a very enviable position” compared with rival Tesla, which secured about $226 million
in its 2010 initial public offering, Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson said Monday on Squawk Box The ex-Tesla
engineering executive said the merger secures Lucida’s financial runway through the end of 2022.
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“We do have a very illustrious roster of blue-chip institutional investors but we’ve attracted so much interest from
the retail sector as well,” Rawlinson said. “It’s a testament to the appeal of our product and our technology that
we’ve enjoyed that position.”
The reverse merger was approved in an extended vote by more than 99% of company shareholders, Klein said in
a conference call Thursday.
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The deal, which valued Lucid at an initial pro forma valuation of $24 billion, was the largest among similar
transactions involving EV companies and blank-check firms. Previous SPAC deals with EV start-ups such as Nikola,
Fisker and Lords town Motors earned valuations of less than $4 billion.
PART5
Lucid had some difficulty attracting capital until September 2018. That’s when Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth
jumped in with funding. With an ownership stake of more than 60% in Lucid, the kingdom’s Public Investment
Fund stands to make a nearly $20 billion profit on an investment of $2.9 billion, according to The Wall Street..
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California-based Lucid expects to deliver its new electric vehicle, the Lucid Air, in the second half of this year after
delays largely due to the Covid pandemic. Rawlinson previously told CNBC he expects the Air to pave the way for
a lineup of future all-electric vehicles, including an SUV, starting production in early 2023, and more affordable
vehicles down the line.
The company said Monday it has 11,000 paid reservations for Lucid Air models.
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SOURCE:
Lucid Motors CEO says EV start-up is in an ‘enviable position’ as stock pops in its debut
