Luxury EV maker Lotus Tech to go public via merger with SPAC L Catterton Asia Acquisition in $5.4 billion deal

Lotus Tech, a luxury electric vehicle maker, is going public via a merger with special purpose acquisition corporation L Catterton Asia Acquisition Corp.
LCAA,
+1.87%
in a deal with an implied enterprise value of about $5.4 billion. Once the deal closes, the company will list on Nasdaq under the ticker “LOT” and will receive proceeds of about $288 million from the SPAC. All of Lotus Tech’s existing equity holders, including Geely Holding, Etika, NIO Capital, etc. are expected to retain their interests in Lotus Tech and own about 89.7% of the company once the deal closes. The Lotus Tech management team lead by Chief Executive Qingfeng Feng os expected to remain in place. The company’ first fully electric hyper SUV, called Eletre, is expected to start delivery in China in the first quarter, followed by the U.K. and EU later this year. The Lotus brand was first founded in the U.K. in 1948. The electric car was developed by facilities in Covernty in the U.K. and Frankfurt in Germany, along with Wuhan, Shanghai and Ningbo in China. The deal is expected to close in the second half.