Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – Lucid Motors has launched its luxury electric vehicle for a public offering after its merger with private-purpose acquisition firm Churchill Capital Corp IV, in the largest deal so far between a company of its kind and an electric vehicle company.
After the deal, the market value of the company supported by the Saudi Public Investment Fund has become more than $ 10 billion, as of writing this report, and Lucid Motors will be given more than $ 4 billion in cash.
The company said the deal will be used to expand the Lucid plant in Arizona, which ultimately expects to be able to produce 365,000 cars annually.
Lucid is trying to compete directly with Tesla. Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson helped develop the Model S while working at Tesla from 2009 to 2012. Tesla, the automaker, sells the most Worldwide value by market value, the “Model S” electric car, with a starting price of $ 73,990.
Churchill Capital Corp IV is a special purpose acquisition company, which is a pro forma company with the sole purpose of buying or merging with a private company in order to bring it to the public market without a traditional initial public offering. Many companies have chosen to go public over the past year through special-purpose acquisitions rather than traditional IPOs, which usually require more scrutiny by investors and regulators.
A Lucid merger was widely expected, which has pushed Churchill Capital Corp IV’s shares up by more than 470% since the start of 2021. After the deal was announced, the company’s share price fell by more than 40%.
