Because Harley-Davidson will spin off the electric motorcycle division
Harley-Davidson plans to publicize its electric motorcycle division. The Financial Times article
Motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson is spinning off its electric motorcycle division and listing it through a merger with an over-the-counter company, taking a similar path to other electric vehicle groups that have become popular.
Harley's electric motorcycle unit, LiveWire, is set to merge with AEA Bridges Impact Corp, a special acquisition company (SPAC) managed by executives from private equity firm AEA Investors and investment group Bridges Fund Management. The deal gives LiveWire an enterprise value of $ 1.8 billion.
LiveWire's listing makes it the latest electric vehicle company to go public via a Spac deal this year, as investors have clamored to finance companies that promise to revolutionize the future of transportation.
However, as interest in the Spac market dropped from frenzied highs at the start of the year, so too did shares in electric vehicle companies, many of which have little or no income.
Jochen Zeitz, chief executive, told the Financial Times that Harley's long experience as a manufacturer sets it apart from fledgling electric vehicle companies.
“This is not the founder-led start-up that has no history,” Zeitz said. “This is a [more than 100] year old company with a solid management team that is spinning a business we believe in,” he added.
Several high-profile electric vehicle companies that have listed through Spacs have then faced scrutiny by regulators.
Last week, the US Securities and Exchange Commission sued electric car company Lucid Motors, requesting documents related to its projections and information. Lordstown Motors is under investigation by federal prosecutors, while Nikola is found to have forged a prototype of his electric truck.
“When it comes to testing the product or infrastructure manufacturing supply chain, all of this is a daily affair for us and has been for over 100 years, and I think it's a big differentiator from those companies that haven't done this before, ”Zeitz said, referring to the latest electric vehicle manufacturers.
The move to separate Harley's electric vehicle business is a change of strategy for the motorcycle maker, which has kept the LiveWire brand at home for a decade. Harley had planned to invest $ 190 to $ 250 million annually to develop and manufacture electric motorcycles.
The deal will be funded through $ 400 million raised by AEA Bridges Spac in September 2020, $ 100 million in investment from Harley and $ 100 million in funding from Taiwanese motorcycle maker Kymco, which will make a so-called private investment in public stock. , or Pipe.
Harley will own 74% of LiveWire, with 12% held by Spac shareholders and the rest by the founders Spac and Kymco.
Zeitz said that while fresh-from-the-offer capital is welcome, it wasn't the force driving the deal.
“We have a lot of capital, so capital isn't the problem [for the LiveWire spin-off],” he said.
Shares of AEA Bridges Impact Spac were up 2.5% on Monday. The combined company will be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker 'LVW'.
(Extract from the press review of eprcomunicazione)
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/harley-davidson-moto-elettriche/ on Sat, 18 Dec 2021 07:20:14 +0000.