A Tesla rival is going public at a $ 5.4 billion valuation via a SPAC set up by former Marvel Comics CEO

• A Tesla-like UK startup is set to go public with a valuation of $ 5.4 billion via a special acquisition company formed by former Marvel Comics CEO Peter Cuneo.
• Arrival based in London will join US company CIIG Merger. The combined company expects to list on the NASDAQ under the symbol “ARVL”.
• Arrival competes with electric vehicle maker Tesla and the creator of Amazon’s first custom electric delivery vehicle, Rivian.
• Contracts signed by the startup currently amount to $ 1.2 billion.
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British electric vehicle startup Arrival will go public in conjunction with a US “blank check company” founded by Peter Cuneo, former CEO of Marvel Comics and personal care company Remington Products.

The deal will value the combined company at $ 5.4 billion and is expected to raise a total of $ 660 million, Arrival said in a statement. The electric bus and van manufacturer was last valued at $ 3 billion after receiving a $ 118 million investment from BlackRock.

The arrival is expected to be listed on NASDAQ under the symbol “ARVL” and the deal is expected to close by early 2021. It competes with the Michigan-based Tesla of Elon Musk and Rivian, which is fully backed by Amazon.

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Its investors also include Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors and United Parcel Service. UPS has already committed to an order of 10,000 electric vans earlier this year and may increase that at some point.

Arrival said its signed contracts total $ 1.2 billion and its first vehicles are expected to be produced in the fourth quarter of 2021.

American businessman Peter Cuneo will join Arrival’s board as non-executive chairman, while founder Denis Sverdlov will remain as chief executive.

Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, or SPACs, are also known as “blank check” companies. These are created specifically to bring a company public, moving beyond the traditional path of an initial public offering. Their use has exploded this year. About $ 66 billion has been raised through 186 SPAC IPOs in 2020 so far, according to SPACInsider.com, more than triple last year’s $ 13.6 billion in 59 deals.

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