The model is supposed to compete with the Tesla Model 3, but it could not completely convince in tests.
(Photo: Reuters)
Stockholm The Chinese manufacturer of electric cars, Polestar, is going public via Spac. A company spokesman confirmed this on Monday. A Spac (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) is a so-called shell company that initially collects money from investors via an IPO in order to later take over another company. Polestar is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in New York via the Spac of the investment firm Gores Guggenheim. The electric car maker is reportedly valued at around $ 20 billion.
“This is a really exciting time for Polestar,” said the German Polestar boss Thomas Ingenlath. “The proposed deal and listing position Polestar as a financially stable, future-oriented electric car brand.” Alec Gores, CEO of Gores Guggenheim, describes Polestar as a special premium manufacturer of electric vehicles: “The company differs significantly from other manufacturers because of its premium products. Models. “
Polestar was founded in 2017 by Volvo and Geely. Since Volvo has been wholly owned by the Chinese car maker Geely since 2010, Polestar is also a Chinese company based in Gothenburg, Sweden. So far, it has launched two models, the Polestar 1 and the Polestar 2. Polestar plans to present three more models by 2024.
Last year Polestar sold around 10,000 vehicles worldwide. From 2025 the company hopes to be able to sell up to 290,000 electric cars annually. After the planned IPO via Spac was announced, the price of Gores Guggenheim in New York pre-trading rose by more than 20 percent.
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It has long been known that Polestar needs fresh capital. When it was founded, Geely and Volvo had put a total of 640 million euros into the new company. Not enough in the long run, because the development of electric cars and the establishment of a sales network devour billions. It was therefore foreseeable that the Polestar owners would look for further financing options. This spring, Polestar raised $ 550 million from a group of investors in China and South Korea.
At the same time, there were increasing signs of going public. Geely founder, main shareholder and supervisory board chairman Li Shufu had recently made it clear again and again that the widely nested group needed fresh capital for further expansion.
Off for the combustion engine
Geely Holding owns more than ten car and light truck brands. In addition to Volvo and Polestar, they include Geely Auto, Lotus, Lynk & Co, Zeekr and Smart – a joint venture with Mercedes-Benz. Most models are to be operated electrically or equipped with a hybrid drive in the future.
Volvo has announced that it will stop producing models with internal combustion engines from 2030. And Polestar also consistently relies on electrification. Production of the Polestar 1 with its hybrid drive will end this year. The Polestar 2 is a pure electric vehicle – and the next Polestar 3 and Polestar Precept models are also exclusively electric.
The development department is still in Gothenburg, but the Polestar models 1 and 2 are produced exclusively in China. The current Polestar 2 wants to compete with the Tesla Model 3, but has not been able to fully convince in several tests. The main points of criticism were its short range and the error-prone software. Last year, the company had to recall all of the cars it delivered to the workshops because of defective components.
Developing a new model is extremely costly, even if Polestar can draw on Volvo and Geely technology. Volvo has already noticed that. In order to be able to get fresh capital, Volvo boss Hakan Samuelsson has long been toying with an IPO of the car manufacturer. You need access to the financial markets in order to be able to finance the conversion to a pure electric car manufacturer.
In 2008 the time had come, but the IPO was canceled at short notice. Since then, there has been repeated speculation about a renewed attempt to bring the Chinese automaker with a Swedish image onto the stock exchange.
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