Electric car maker Lucid Motors to go public with $11.75bn deal

The firm is benefitting from a wave of investments in EV startups, spurred by a rise in Tesla shares in the past year.

American luxury electric vehicle (EV) maker Lucid Motors has agreed to go public by merging with blank-cheque firm Churchill Capital IV Corp (CCIV) in a deal that valued the combined company at $11.75bn. Lucid, run by former Tesla engineer Peter Rawlinson, is the latest firm to tap the initial public offering market, with investors rushing into the EV sector, spurred by the rise of Tesla Inc and the toughening of emissions regulations in Europe and elsewhere. Other prominent players in the sector went public through mergers with so-called special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) last year. SPACs are publicly listed shell companies set up to buy private companies. Those private firms effectively become publicly traded without having to go through a traditional initial public offering.