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Lordstown Motors shares go public

LORDSTOWN — Class A shares of Lordstown Motors Corp. will begin trading today on the Nasdaq stock exchange — a “momentous occasion,” its CEO said, for the startup electric truck maker as it progresses toward assembly next year.

The shares will trade under the ticker symbol “RIDE” and its warrants will trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “RIDEW.”

Friday’s announcement comes about four months after a rolling prototype of the Endurance, the company’s battery-powered light duty pickup truck, made its public debut and just little under a year since Lordstown Motors purchased from General Motors the automaker’s assembly plant in Lordstown.

Also Friday, the merger of Lordstown Motors and New York-based DiamondPeak Holdings Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, was finalized. The new company, worth about $1.6 billion, will remain named Lordstown Motors Corp.

DiamondPeak shareholders on Thursday approved the merger and stock offering in the deal that’s expected to inject $675 million into the company to start producing the truck, for which the company already has 40,000 preorders.

“We are proud of this momentous occasion. Electrification of the automotive industry is at an inflection point, and this transaction helps us play our part in this transformation,” said Steve Burns, founder and CEO of Lordstown Motors.

“At Lordstown, we have built a differentiated company, and we look forward to combining our EV (electric vehicle) startup culture with the infrastructure and assets we already have in place in order to successfully achieve our production milestones,” he said.

Retooling at the 6.2 million-square-foot facility continues and the schedule remains on pace to meet the company’s production goal of the second half of 2021. The company is expected to make another announcement about the truck Monday.

The truck will have a sticker price of $52,500 before tax credits and contains four moving parts — the in-wheel hub motors.

“We have a near production-ready plant and approximately $675 million in proceeds from this transaction, which is more than enough funding to get us through initial production,” said Burns.

The transaction includes a $500 million fully committed PIPE private investment in public equity, which is a mechanism that allows institutional investors to invest in private companies — that includes a $75 million investment from General Motors.

GM invested $25 million in cash and its non-cash investments include $20 million for the land, buildings and equipment and $30 million in operating expenses. Also, when Lordstown Motors purchased the facility in November, GM let it borrow up to $40 million in a mortgage that terminated when the merger finalized.

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