UK electric vehicle maker Arrival to list on Nasdaq amid surging demand
Arrival, the UK-based electric van and bus startup, is to list on the Nasdaq inventory trade in New York, in a deal that’s anticipated to worth the corporate at greater than £4bn.
The producer, primarily based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, will increase $660m (£498m) in money because it prepares for mass manufacturing of its first electric bus inside a 12 months, adopted by its electric van by early 2022.
The fundraising will likely be carried out through a merger with CIIG Merger Corp, a particular function acquisition firm (SPAC) run by Peter Cuneo, a former chief govt of the Marvel comics firm. SPACs are also referred to as “blank cheque” corporations as they’re arrange by traders particularly to discover and purchase one other enterprise.
Arrival has exploded on to the global automotive scene within the final two years – after beforehand working in secret – with a plan to use smaller, cheaper “microfactories” to produce electric automobiles utilizing robots, as an alternative of the manufacturing line mannequin, pioneered by Henry Ford, to mass-produce automobiles.
Arrival, which now employs about 1,300 folks primarily within the UK and the US, claims its van will likely be about the identical worth as comparable fossil gasoline vans on the market, which value about £35,000, and considerably cheaper than its electric van rivals. Vans will likely be 17% cheaper than diesel vans over their lifespan, a key issue for corporations managing vehicle fleets, whereas complete bus prices might halve, Arrival claims.
The itemizing announcement got here on the identical day that the UK authorities introduced a ban on sales of cars with internal combustion engines after 2030 and hybrids after 2035, underlining the chance for promising electric vehicle producers.
Avinash Rugoobur, Arrival’s chief technique officer, mentioned “we’re at an inflection point”, when the transition to electric automobiles will speed up quickly.
Rugoobur mentioned Arrival could be producing money by 2023, and would then add new microfactories at a charge of up to 4 a 12 months.
He insisted the corporate would nonetheless be a British success story, regardless of itemizing within the US. The firm’s headquarters and analysis and improvement will stay within the UK, in London and Banbury. However, it would set up manufacturing websites close to to its markets around the globe, together with a beforehand introduced manufacturing unit in South Carolina within the US.
He additionally raised the prospect of Arrival shifting into smaller passenger automobiles, with a spotlight at first on taxis, however with the potential of automobiles for shoppers as effectively.
“I don’t think there’s any limitation to the segments that we can eventually move into,” Rugoobur mentioned.
The itemizing will even enable Arrival to capitalise on large curiosity in electric automobiles from institutional and retail traders alike. An funding frenzy has propelled the US electric car pioneer Tesla to develop into the world’s largest carmaker by market worth, value greater than $425bn, in contrast with Ford’s worth of $35bn. The worth of the electric lorry maker Nikola additionally surged throughout 2020, earlier than it fell again after an alleged misselling scandal.
Arrival has already attracted a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of kilos of funding, together with from Korean carmakers Hyundai and Kia and funding supervisor BlackRock. About $400m of the newest fundraising will come from traders led by Fidelity, Wellington Management, BNP Paribas Asset Management and BlackRock.
In an indication of its fast acceleration, earlier offers valued Arrival at €3bn, in contrast with its $5.4bn anticipated valuation when it lists in New York.
The funding will likely be used to fund Arrival’s race to fill orders from prospects that are actually value $1.2bn. UPS, the US supply firm, ordered 10,000 electric vans in January as a part of its efforts to decarbonise its city deliveries. Arrival additionally has letters of intent with different unnamed potential prospects.
Arrival, which is headquartered in west London, was based in 2014 by the Russian entrepreneur Denis Sverdlov, who bought telecoms agency and phonemaker Yota in 2013. Sverdlov will stay the corporate’s chief govt after the itemizing, with Cuneo changing into non-executive chairman.
