Electrical car maker Lucid Motors is in talks to go public by means of a merger with a special-purpose acquisition firms run by former Citigroup rainmaker Michael Klein, in response to folks accustomed to the matter.
A transaction may very well be valued at as much as $15 billion, the folks mentioned, asking to not be recognized as a result of the matter is non-public. Lucid, which is backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, is working with monetary advisers, the folks added. The talks are ongoing however might nonetheless disintegrate.
Representatives for Lucid Motors and Klein declined to remark.
Klein has two SPACs which might be on the hunt for offers. Churchill Capital Corp IV — the most important one, having raised greater than $2 billion final 12 months — is the car contemplating a take care of Lucid, among the folks mentioned.
Churchill Capital Corp IV shares closed Monday’s buying and selling up 32 p.c to $13.20.
That SPAC expressed curiosity in shopping for a stake in AT&T Inc.’s DirecTV satellite-television enterprise, Bloomberg Information beforehand reported. Its talks with DirecTV have since stalled, folks accustomed to the matter mentioned. A consultant for AT&T declined to remark.
A number of electrical car makers have carried out offers with SPACs, , or so-called blank-check firms, as startups search to bulk up and lift money to compete with business chief Tesla. Lucid can be some of the established electrical car firms to take this route.
Faraday Future is in talks to merge with Property Options Acquisition Corp., folks accustomed to the matter mentioned this week, whereas Nikola Corp. and Fisker went public by way of blank-check offers final 12 months.
Lucid targets the posh finish of the market, and its CEO, Peter Rawlinson, was beforehand Tesla’s chief engineer on the Mannequin S sedan. Backers embody Public Funding Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which has invested greater than $1 billion within the firm.
The corporate was based in 2007 below the title Atieva and spent years being extra targeted on battery expertise than pursuing growth of a luxurious automobile. It pivoted in 2016, modified its title to Lucid, and started work on what would turn into its fundamental mannequin, the Air.
Lucid plans to begin deliveries of a $169,000 electrical sedan to U.S. prospects within the second quarter. The Air EV, which the corporate says can do greater than 500 miles on a single cost, will probably be constructed at a manufacturing unit in Casa Grande, Arizona. It plans to supply extra inexpensive variations of the Air from 2022 and later plans to construct a battery-electric utility car.
