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(Bloomberg) – Wall Street’s obsession with electric vehicles is triggering a new round of public listings and helping cleantech companies forge partnerships with powerful allies.
Proterra Inc., which makes electric buses and battery systems, said on Tuesday it would go public through special purpose acquisition company ArcLight Clean Transition Corp., the latest in a wave of deals between manufacturers. automobiles and PSPCs. It comes as Lucid Motors Inc. was in talks to go public through one of Michael Klein’s blank check companies, according to people familiar with the matter.
At the same time, Plug Power Inc. and Renault SA set up a company to build delivery vans powered by hydrogen.
EV company valuations are skyrocketing as investors seek out the next Tesla Inc., which saw its market capitalization hit a record $ 834 billion last week, overtaking Facebook Inc. as Nikola Corp. and Lordstown Motors Corp. Plug, which in 20 years has never made an annual profit, is now worth more than $ 29 billion – up from $ 1.2 billion a year ago.
“It’s an extremely hot industry – it’s very hot,” said Pavel Molchanov, energy analyst at Raymond James & Associates. “Battery technology is becoming more efficient, the charging infrastructure continues to develop and proliferate, and buyers can choose from many other vehicle models.”
Find out more: Proterra, an EV-Tech company, goes public via ArcLight SPAC
It wasn’t just Tesla that inspired investors to cram into clean vehicles. Joe Biden’s victory in the US presidential election promises to be a boon to the emission-free transportation industry. During last summer’s campaign, then-candidate Biden indicated that the government was more supportive of plug-in vehicles as part of a larger action to fight global warming.
“There is this global interest in clean transport,” said Katie Bays, managing director of policy consultancy FiscalNote Markets. “Investing in clean transport companies is not a marginal problem. It’s very common. “
Electric vehicle inventories outperformed the market as a whole on Tuesday, after Xpeng Inc. secured a $ 2 billion line of credit from Chinese banks and the ongoing CES, previously called the Consumer Electronics Show, contributed to a Growing buzz about electric vehicles, the announcement from General Motors Co. plans to launch into commercial electric delivery vehicles.
Xpeng led the pack, with its U.S. certificates of deposit up 17%, followed by strong gains from Li Auto Inc., Nikola Corp. and Tesla Inc.
The Lucid transaction could be valued at $ 15 billion, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because they are private. The EV maker, which is backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, targets the luxury segment of the market and its CEO, Peter Rawlinson, was previously Tesla’s chief engineer on the Model S sedan.
Proterra, meanwhile, is the most recent electric vehicle maker to go public in a PSPC merger as investor appetite for electric vehicles intensifies. Blank check companies such as ArcLight Clean have emerged as a preferred way to raise capital, with PSPCs raising a record $ 79.2 billion in 2020, to become one of the largest segments of initial public offerings in the world. during the year. Nikola and Fisker Inc. also went public via PSPC deals last year.
ArcLight Clean shares increased 92%.
“It’s really an industry inflection point,” said Jack Allen, president and CEO of Proterra, in an interview. “Doing a PSPC allows us to go faster and really accelerate the investments that await us in our three business segments which are now generating revenues.”
See also: Renault, Plug Power Form Venture for hydrogen delivery vans
The Plug Power venture with Renault is the latest successful deal for the Latham, New York-based company, which has spent decades trying to carve a niche for hydrogen fuel cells that generate electricity by a electrochemical process rather than combustion.
Last week, Plug announced a $ 1.5 billion investment from South Korean group SK to promote the technology in Asia. When produced from renewable energy and used in a fuel cell, hydrogen can provide energy without emitting greenhouse gases, making it a potentially powerful weapon in the fight against climate change.
Plug and Renault will offer both vehicles and hydrogen refueling stations to supply them, according to a statement on Tuesday. They aim to start production in early 2022 at an existing Renault plant in France, building tens of thousands of light commercial vehicles per year by 2030. Financial details were not disclosed.
“We have the vehicles, we have the service, we have the stations – everything you need to be successful,” said Andy Marsh, CEO of Plug, in an interview.
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