Lotus Technology, an electric car maker owned by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, has agreed to merge with Blank Check Company.
L Catterton Asia Acquisition Corp. will merge with the British car manufacturing group’s EV manufacturing subsidiary that Geely acquired in 2017, the two companies said in a statement on Tuesday. The sponsor of the special purpose acquisition company is related to the world’s richest man, Bernard Arnault.
Lotus Tech has been aiming to go public since at least the beginning of last year. Management may have been encouraged by the recent public offering of another luxury car brand, Porsche AG, which launched Europe’s largest successful initial public offering in a decade when it debuted in Frankfurt in September. A week later, Porsche surpassed Volkswagen AG to become Europe’s most valuable automaker.
Rather than go down the IPO road, Lotus Tech plans to merge with SPAC in 2016, which sponsors Arnault’s luxury goods giant LVMH’s private equity business.
Arnault surpassed Tesla CEO Elon Musk to become the world’s richest man last month. This is the first time a European has taken the top spot on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Group Lotus is small compared to Tesla, but Geely has moved away from internal combustion engines and plans several all-electric models in the next few years. I’m looking forward to it and will be jumping on the first electric models from these brands.
Lotus unveiled the Eletre, an all-electric sports utility vehicle last year, and plans to launch a rival to Porsche’s popular Taycan EV in 2023.
Geely and other owners intend to retain an 89.7% stake in Lotus Tech after the SPAC merger. Geely’s billionaire owner Li Shufu also controls Swedish automaker Volvo Car AB, while he owns shares in Mercedes-Benz Group AG in Germany and his Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings Plc in the UK. doing.
Deutsche Bank AG advised Lotus Tech on the transaction and Credit Suisse Group AG acted as SPAC’s capital markets advisor.
