The American manufacturer of luxury electric cars Lucid Motors has announced
, wanting to raise about three billion US dollars through a share issue. Almost two thirds are said to come from the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), which already has a stake of more than 60 percent in Lucid. Lucid shares are down almost 10 percent.
PIF has therefore agreed to purchase 265.7 million shares at a price of US$6.80 as part of the private placement – a total value of approximately US$1.8 billion. The stock’s closing price on Wednesday was $7.76. The remaining amount is to be raised through a public offering of 173.5 million common shares.
For CEO Peter Rawlinson (63) and his ailing company, these three billion US dollars are of crucial importance in order to get in from the rival Tesla triggered price war in the market for luxury electric vehicles. Recently, Lucid had to contend with increasing losses, sales that remained below expectations and dwindling cash reserves – these fell to 900 million US dollars.
CFO Sherry House (50) recently stated that the company has approximately $4.1 billion in cash, which is enough to fund the electric car maker through the second quarter of next year. CEO Rawlinson had described the rising interest rates as a challenge and at the beginning of May lowered its production forecast for 2023 from 14,000 to 10,000 units.
According to experts, the current share issue could ensure the continued survival of the group, provided that costs are saved in the future. The Saudi PIF fund of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (37) is once again responsible for this rescue. In Saudi Arabia, Lucid is building its first overseas production plant – the Saudi government had agreed to buy up to 100,000 Lucid vehicles over the next ten years.