Lucid stock tumbles following public offering to raise $1.67 billion

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Lucid stock tumbles following public offering to raise $1.67 billion

Lucid stock tumbles following public offering to raise $1.67 billion

Brand new Lucid electric cars sit parked in front of a Lucid Studio showroom on May 24, 2024 in San Francisco, California. 

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Shares of Lucid Group were under pressure Thursday after the electric vehicle maker announced a public offering of nearly 262.5 million shares of its common stock.

The late Wednesday announcement was made in conjunction with plans for Lucid’s majority stockholder and affiliate of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Ayar Third Investment Co., to purchase more than 374.7 million shares of common stock from Lucid in a “private placement concurrently with the public offering.”

The public offering will assist Lucid in raising additional capital, while the transaction with its largest shareholder ensures it will maintain its ownership stake.

Lucid on Thursday said the offering will raise gross proceeds of about $1.67 billion for the automaker to use toward “general corporate purposes, which may include, among other things, capital expenditures and working capital.”

The stock fell nearly 18% in Thursday trading.

Lucid said the public offering is expected to close on or about Friday, subject to customary closing conditions.

Following the transaction, Ayar is expected to maintain its approximate 58.8% ownership of Lucid’s outstanding common stock, Lucid said in a release.

Lucid said the deal is subject to “certain conditions, at the same price per share initially to be paid by the underwriter for the public offering.”

BofA Securities is acting as the sole underwriter for the public offering. The EV maker intends to grant the firm a 30-day option to purchase up to nearly 39.37 million additional shares of Lucid’s common stock as well.

The announced transactions come two months after Lucid said the PIF had agreed to supply the company with $1.5 billion in cash, as the EV maker looks to add new models to its product line.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Tom Narayan questioned the timing of the offering, citing prior comments by Lucid that it would likely not need to raise additional capital until 2026.

“We suspect that investors will wonder why LCID is raising more capital just after it secured the PIF capital in August, and at currently depressed share price levels. We expect Lucid shares to trade sharply lower as a result,” he wrote in an investor note Wednesday night.

Lucid said it ended the third quarter with $5.16 billion of total liquidity, including more than $4 billion in cash, cash equivalents and investment balances.

Lucid’s sales and financial performance have not lived up to initial expectations following higher costs, slower-than-expected demand for EVs, and marketing and awareness problems for the company.

As of Wednesday, shares of Lucid have fallen 22% this year. The stock closed Wednesday at $3.28 a share, up less than 1%. The company’s market cap is $7.6 billion. It had 2.32 billion shares outstanding.

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