Proterra, which makes electric buses and batteries, agreed to go public through a merger with special purpose acquisition company ArcLight Clean Transition (ACTCU, ACTC).
The deal represents an enterprise value of $1.6 billion for Proterra and includes $415 million from investors Daimler Trucks, Franklin Templeton, Fidelity Management & Research Co. and funds and accounts from BlackRock, among others, according to a statement. It’s expected to close in the first half of 2021 subject to approval by ArcLight Clean’s shareholders.
ArcLight Clean’s shares surged by as much as 78%.
The Proterra merger is the latest in a wave of deals between makers of electric vehicles, or EVs, and SPACs as auto companies seek to raise capital quickly and compete with industry giant Tesla Inc. Blank-check companies such as ArcLight Clean have emerged as a preferred way to do that, with SPACs raising a record $79.2 billion in 2020, to become one of the biggest segments of initial public offerings during the year.
Proterra is a high-growth commercial electric vehicle technology leader with over a decade of production experience. The Company has designed an end-to-end, flexible technology platform that delivers world-class performance and a low total cost of ownership to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and end customers. Proterra has three complementary businesses:
- Proterra Powered: Delivering industry-leading battery systems and electrification solutions to commercial vehicle manufacturers;
- Proterra Transit: Leading North America as the market’s #1 electric transit bus OEM; and
- Proterra Energy: Offering end-to-end turnkey charging and energy management solutions.
The Company’s industry-leading battery systems have been proven in more than 16 million service miles driven by its fleet of transit vehicles and validated through partnerships with world-class commercial vehicle OEMs, such as Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation (FCCC), Thomas Built Buses, Van Hool, Bustech, and Optimal-EV. To date, Proterra has produced and delivered more than 300 megawatt-hours of battery systems, more than 550 heavy-duty electric transit buses and installed 54 megawatts of charging systems.
Proterra operates manufacturing facilities in California and South Carolina, as well as a state-of-the-art R&D lab in Silicon Valley. The Company recently announced the opening of a new battery production line co-located in its electric transit bus manufacturing facility in Los Angeles County. This battery production line was established within a year and demonstrates Proterra’s ability to bring its scalable and capital-efficient battery manufacturing process directly to commercial vehicle OEMs alongside their existing manufacturing.
