Ohio, USA, based Lordstown Motors, who revealed their electric pick-up in June, will merge with special-purpose acquisition company DiamondPeak Holdings Corporation, with a market value of £1.2 million ($1.6 billion/€1.36 billion). One-year-old Lordstown Motors joins electric vehicle makers Fisker Inc. and Nikola Motor who have both become public companies through a SPAC over the past two months.
The new partnership between Lordstown Motors and Diamond Peak Holdings Corporation will remain on the Nasdaq under a new ticker symbol, RIDE. The company has said it will be able to raise £380 million ($500 million/€425 million) in private investment in public equity (PIPE), including a £57 million ($75 million/€64 million) investment by General Motors.
Other institutional investors include Federated Hermes Kaufmann Small Cap Fund, Fidelity Management and Research Company, Wellington Management Company, and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020. The new company’s board will include Steve Burns, founder and CEO of Lordstown, and David Hamamoto, chairman and CEO of DiamondPeak.
Lordstown plan to start making their electric trucks in the second half of 2021 and produce 20,000 vehicles annually. Production will take place at the former General Motors assembly plant. The 6.2 million-square-foot factory was purchased by Lordstown Motors at the end of 2019. The company has already secured a massive 27,000 total pre-orders valued at £1billion ($1.4 billion/€1.2 billion).