(Bloomberg) -- Next.e.GO Mobile SE, a German maker of compact electric vehicles, is going public through a merger with a blank-check firm to create a company valued at $913 million including debt, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The deal will provide e.GO with about $285 million of proceeds, assuming investors don’t redeem their shares, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. That includes $235 million from Athena Consumer Acquisition Corp. and $50 million in debt, the people said.
Proceeds from the deal with the special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, will be used to fund operations and growth, the people said. Construction of e.GO’s second manufacturing facility, to be located in Southeast Europe, is expected to begin this year, they added.
Representatives for e.GO and Athena Consumer declined to comment.
The transaction follows a two-year boom and bust for SPACs. Once an obscure vehicle for taking a company public without some of the hurdles of a traditional initial public offering, listings globally for blank-check companies more than quintupled to $84 billion in 2020 and almost doubled from that last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Only $15 billion has been raised so far this year.
De-SPAC Drop
Mergers deals by those SPACs have also plummeted, from a combined total of $115 billion last year to $15 billion since Jan. 1, the data show.
The structure of SPAC transactions has changed, too, after investors suffered losses on private placements at the IPO price, typically $10 a share. The e.GO transaction doesn’t have a PIPE, relying instead on the debt to help fund it.
e.GO’s only model on the road is the e.wave.x, a four-seat urban vehicle similar to Mercedes-Benz Group AG’s Smart. The e.wave.x costs at least 24,990 euros ($25,490), while the Smart, which is smaller, sells for 18,370 euros. e.GO, based in Aachen, Germany, has delivered more than 1,000 cars so far.
Athena Consumer, founded by venture capitalist Isabelle Freidheim, raised $230 million in its IPO in October, saying it planned to invest in businesses offering technology-enabled consumer goods and/or services.
The combined company is expected to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EGOX, the people said.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
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