Lucid
- Churchill Capital Corp IV is continuing its meteoric rise on Thursday, with shares surging roughly 9% before paring some gains.
- The SPAC’s market cap now pushes $4 billion after shares shot up over 70% in the last four days.
- Former Citigroup man Michael Klein may have found a winning partner in EV maker Lucid Motors.
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Churchill Capital Corp IV is continuing its meteoric rise on Thursday. Shares have surged over 70% in four days since investors first heard news the special purpose acquisition company may take the EV startup Lucid Motors public.
Now, Lucid has listed jobs like Director of Investor Relations and SEC Reporting Manager on its website’s careers page, lending more credence to the news the company intends to go public via a merger with Churchill.
Former Citigroup man Michael Klein has been shopping his “blank-check” SPAC, Churchill Capital Corp IV, for some time in an attempt to find the right partner.
In fact, back in November 2020, Churchill Capital Corp IV expressed interest in buying a stake in AT&T Inc.’s DirecTV satellite-television business. However, the talks then stalled, and Klein went back to the market to find a new partner for his SPAC.
It looks like he may have found the perfect pairing in Lucid Motors. The company is in a prime position to shine as the EV gold rush continues.
The EV sector has outpaced the market this year, with several new entrants performing better than expected. The Shanghai-based EV maker Nio saw its shares rise 16% thus far in 2021, while the American EV competitor Nikola has seen its stock jump almost 25% on the year.
The Global X Autonomous & Electric Vehicles ETF, which holds EV related stocks, is also up over 62% year-to-date.
The EV market is continually seeing new entrants. It's not just Lucid that intends to go public. Most recently, Faraday & Future Inc. announced they are in talks to merge with Property Solutions Acquisition Corp. in a deal that could value the EV start-up at $3 billion.
Churchill Capital Corp IV's Lucid move combines two of the biggest themes in the market of late: SPACs and EVs. All in, 219 SPACs raised $73 billion in 2020, and it seems that trend is set to continue in 2021.
Shares of Churchill Capital Corp IV were up to records highs of over $19 per share on Thursday and the SPAC now boasts a market cap in excess of $4 billion.