Lucid Group, Inc. has officially declared the start of a public offering of 173,544,948 shares of its common stock today, May 31, 2023. This move by Lucid Group is set to raise around $3.0 billion in gross proceeds.
BofA Securities, Inc. will serve as the book-running manager for this offering. The shares will be available for purchase from time to time in a variety of methods, including direct sales to purchasers, through brokers on Nasdaq, over-the-counter transactions, negotiated transactions, or a mix of these methods. The pricing will be flexible and could be at a fixed price, market prices at the time of sale, or at negotiated prices.
Ayar Third Investment Company (“Ayar”), an affiliate of the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) and a majority stockholder of Lucid, will also be playing a significant role in this development. Ayar has agreed to purchase 265,693,703 shares of Lucid common stock in a private placement for a total price of about $1.8 billion. Subject to the completion of the public offering and standard closing conditions, the private placement is anticipated to close on June 26, 2023. Consequently, Ayar plans to sustain its current ownership stake of about 60.5% in Lucid’s outstanding common stock.
Lucid Group aims to utilize the net proceeds from the public offering and the private placement for various corporate purposes, which might include capital expenditures and working capital.
The public offering is being conducted in accordance with Lucid’s effective shelf registration statement on Form S-3, inclusive of a base prospectus, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and a prospectus supplement. Potential investors are advised to familiarize themselves with the preliminary prospectus supplement, the accompanying base prospectus, and other related documents filed or to be filed by Lucid with the SEC.
At the end of this year’s fiscal first quarter, Lucid reported a cash balance of approximately $3.4 billion and credit lines worth about $700 million. Sherry House, the company’s Chief Financial Officer, assured that these resources should adequately fund Lucid’s operations up until at least the second quarter of 2024. The company has cut jobs and has struggled with mass production.
Share of Lucid dropped 8.7% in after-hours trading after the news.
