- Thomas Ingenlath, CEO of European electric car company Polestar, said Monday that the company decided to go public through a SPAC deal with Gores Guggenheim (NASDAQ:GGPI) because it provided "an efficient way and a flexible way" to conduct the process.
- Commenting on the overall EV market, Ingenlath told CNBC that legacy car companies would eventually transition to electric fleets but that startups like his spurred innovation.
- "Obviously, the OEMs will be catching up, they will go all-electric. But it is so much more cumbersome to do that with an established legacy system," he said.
- "This is, of course, where a startup, a brand new company, can accelerate much faster," he added.
- Earlier on Monday, Gores Guggenheim (GGPI) announced its merger deal with Polestar, which valued the company at about $20B. Once the deal closes, the firm will change its name to Polestar Automotive Holding UK Limited and be listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker "PSNY."
- Appearing in the same CNBC interview, well-known SPAC investor Alec Gores called the process of determining valuation "a bit of an art, a bit of science."
- The founder of the Gores Group, which is one of the backers of Gores Guggenheim (GGPI), said the SPAC deal represents a "great entry point" into Polestar because GGPI was conservative in its valuation.
- He noted that the $20B valuation amounts to about three times 2023 revenues, compared to the valuation on Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), which sits at a level closer to 11 times revenue.
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