EV maker Lordstown Motors to go public by merging with blank check firm

Lordstown Motors has agreed to go public as a result of a merger with blank-look at company DiamondPeak Holdings in a offer that gives the electrical pickup start off-up a pro forma fairness price of $one.six billion, the firms explained on Monday.

The blended company will be identified as Lordstown Motors Corp next the closure of the offer in the fourth quarter and will trade on the Nasdaq less than the ticker symbol Trip, the firms explained.

A blank-look at company is a shell company that raises cash as a result of an initial public providing to obtain an running entity, generally in two several years.

A number of EV builders these types of as Nikola Corp. and Fisker have both absent public or are organizing to list their shares as a result of mergers with blank-look at firms this yr.

Lordstown has been working on a new entire-size electrical pickup truck identified as Stamina and previous yr hired Abundant Schmidt, a previous director of manufacturing at Tesla Inc., as main generation officer.

The company explained the truck is aimed at the U.S. professional fleet sector, with initial generation anticipated in the second 50 % of 2021.

Lordstown expects to obtain about $675 million of gross proceeds from the offer and will use the funds for the generation of the new truck, which has secured $one.four billion really worth of pre-orders, the company explained.

The offer includes investments by Common Motors and institutional buyers, such as Fidelity Administration and Investigation Business LLC, Wellington Administration Business LLP, Federated Hermes Kaufmann Tiny Cap Fund, and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, amid other people, Lordstown explained.