Lucid Motors will become a listed company on the New York Stock Exchange in an agreement that will allow the start-up of the electric vehicle with $ 4.4 billion in cash. California’s startup, which is majority-owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, plans to launch its first luxury electric vehicle – the 500-mile Series Air sedan – later this year. An electric sport utility vehicle is expected to follow in 2023.
Just like many other beginners in the automotive space have done in the past year, Lucid Motors is skipping the traditional path of becoming a stock market business and rather merging it with a specialty sourcing company, or SPAC. Lucid Motors specifically merges with Churchill Capital Corp IV, which is already listed on the NYSE. Bloomberg first reported that Lucid Motors and Churchill – which is run by investor Michael Klein, who has worked for Saudi Arabia in the past – were in talks in January.
About $ 2.1 billion of the cash comes from Churchill. About $ 2.5 billion comes from a new round of funding that coincides with the merger, which is anchored by Saudi Arabia but includes BlackRock, Fidelity Management and others. The deal values Lucid Motors at $ 24 billion.
Led by Peter Rawlinson, a former Tesla engineer who helped bring the Model S to life, Lucid Motors was founded in 2007 as Atieva. It was initially focused on battery technology, but eventually started an electric vehicle a few years ago. It has since grown to more than 2,000 employees and began construction of a $ 700 million factory in Arizona where the Air will be built.
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