Polestar, a premium Swedish electric vehicle firm backed by Volvo Car Group and Academy Award winner Leonardo Di Caprio, agreed to go public through a merger with a blank-check company Gores Guggenheim Inc at a $20B (approx €17B) enterprise valuation.
With this deal, the Goteborg-based company will receive $800M (approx €684M) in cash from Gores Guggenheim and $250M (approx €214M) from institutional investors. Polestar will use the funds for product development and expansion of operations and markets.
Post-merger, the combined company will be called Polestar Automotive Holding UK Ltd. and will trade under the symbol “PSNY” on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
With this move, Polestar joins the likes of Faraday Future, Lordstown Motors, and Lucid Motors. The transaction values Polestar at three times its projected revenues for 2023, reports the Financial Times.
Thomas Ingenlath, Chief Executive Officer of Polestar, says, “This is a really exciting time for Polestar. In Alec and the Gores Guggenheim team, we have found a partner with an impressive track record of bringing leading companies to the public markets. The proposed business combination and listing position Polestar as a financially strong, future-proof, global electric car company. It will enable us to accelerate our growth, strategy, and most importantly, our mission towards sustainable mobility.”
Gores Guggenheim: What you need to know
Gores Guggenheim is a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) sponsored by an affiliate of The Gores Group and Guggenheim Capital.
Gores Guggenheim completed its initial public offering in April 2021, raising approximately $800M (approx €684M) in cash proceeds, and expects to close the deal with Polestar in H1 2022.
Alec Gores, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Gores Group and Chairman of Gores Guggenheim, states, “The Company is truly differentiated from others given its premier vehicles, attractive financial profile, strong track record of performance, and the fact that it already has cars on the road across the globe. Driven by an incredible leadership team with Thomas at the helm, Polestar is well-positioned to capitalize on this exciting and dynamic time for car manufacturers.”
Polestar: Premium Electric Vehicle company
Founded in 2017 by Volvo Cars and Zhejiang Geely Holding, Polestar is a global pure-play, premium electric performance vehicle manufacturer. Polestar’s electric performance cars – Polestar 1 and Polestar 2 – are currently on roads across Europe, North America, and Asia.
The Polestar 1 is a low-volume electric performance hybrid GT with a carbon fiber body producing 609 HP and 1,000Nm of torque, with an electric-only range of 124 km (WLTP).
The Polestar 2 model range includes three variants with a combination of long- and standard-range batteries as large as 78 kWh, and dual- and single-motor powertrains with as much as 300 kW / 408 hp and 660 Nm of torque.
The company has plans to launch three new models by 2024. To date, Polestar has delivered approximately 10,000 vehicles in 2020 and expects to sell 290,000 vehicles per year by 2025.
In April, the company secured $550M (approx €457.36M) from a group of long-term financial investors like Chongqing Chengxing Equity Investment Fund Partnership, Zibo Financial Holding, Zibo Hitech Industrial Investment, and SK Inc.
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