Luxury electric vehicle company Lucid Motors and special purpose acquisition company Churchill Capital Corp IV (CCIV) announced a merger agreement, giving Lucid a public listing, and a pro forma equity valuation of $24 billion.
Lucid’s current shareholders are not selling any stock in the transaction, and will continue to hold over 73% of the shares in the combined company. Lucid’s largest shareholder, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign investment fund PIF will hold a 62% stake. The transaction is expected to close in Q2 2021.
The deal is the largest in a series of series of EV SPAC mergers, including Nikola in March 2020, followed by Fisker in July. Another deal was announced yesterday by electric vehicle maker Xos, which will merge with blank-check firm NextGen Acquisition Corp.
Lucid is led by CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson, former Tesla Chief Engineer of Model S. The California-based company is developing a line of luxury electric vehicles, with the first, the Lucid Air pure-electric luxury sedan expected to be rolled out in H2 2021, followed by the Gravity performance luxury SUV in 2023.
The transaction will provide Lucid with over $4 billion in cash, with proceeds to be used to work towards the new product launches, expand the company’s manufacturing facilities, and support further expansion of Lucid’s direct-to-consumer retail model and Studio and Service Center locations.
Rawlinson said:
“Lucid is proud to be leading a new era of high-technology, high efficiency zero-emission transportation. Through a ground-up rethinking of how EVs are designed, our in-house-developed, race-proven technology and meticulous engineering have enabled industry-leading powertrain efficiency and new levels of performance. Lucid is going public to accelerate into the next phase of our growth as we work towards the launch of our new pure-electric luxury sedan, Lucid Air, in 2021 followed by our Gravity performance luxury SUV in 2023. Financing from the transaction will also be used to support expansion of our manufacturing facility in Arizona, which is the first greenfield purpose-built EV manufacturing facility in North America, and is already operational for pre-production builds of the Lucid Air. Scheduled to expand over three phases in the coming years, our Arizona facility is designed to be capable of producing approximately 365,000 units per year at scale. Lastly, this transaction further enables the realization of our vision to supply Lucid’s advanced EV technologies to third parties such as other automotive manufacturers as well as offer energy storage solutions in the residential, commercial and utility segments.”
Michael Klein, Chairman and CEO of CCIV, said:
“CCIV believes that Lucid’s superior and proven technology backed by clear demand for a sustainable EV make Lucid a highly attractive investment for Churchill Capital Corp IV shareholders, many of whom have an increased focus on sustainability. We are pleased to partner with Peter and the rest of Lucid’s leadership team as it delivers the highly anticipated Lucid Air to market later this year, promising significant disruption to the EV market and creating thousands of jobs across the U.S.”
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