Lucid Motors is, according to new reports, edging closer to a deal to go public at a valuation of roughly $12 billion.
The merger between Lucid and Churchill Capital IV, the blank-check acquisition firm run by Michael Klein, would be the biggest in a series of deals with special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) made by other EV manufacturers like Nikola and Fisker.
Reuters reports that Churchill Capital IV has initiated talks with investors to raise more than $1 billion by selling shares in a private investment in public equity transaction to secure the deal with Lucid. These funds would be in addition to the $2 billion that Churchill Capital IV raised in its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in July 2020. Sources claim that Lucid and Klein have already agreed to key terms of the deal.
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It is understood that a deal between Lucid and the SPAC could be announced as early as this month, so long as the fundraising round is successful.
The price of Churchill Capital IV stock is up more than 400 per cent this year and spiked by more than 30 per cent on the back of news that it is inching closer to a deal with Lucid. Yahoo Finance notes that shares were halted for volatility after this news broke.
Lucid was founded back in 2007 as Atieva by former Tesla executive Bernard Tse and entrepreneur Sam Weng. The company was initially funded by investors in China and Silicon Valley and in 2018, secured a $1 billion investment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Deliveries of the Lucid Air will begin in the coming months.
