(Reuters) -ECARX Holdings Inc said on Thursday it would go public through a merger with a blank-check firm in a deal that values the automobile technology company at $3.82 billion.
The deal with COVA Acquisition Corp includes a $45 million investment from mobility tech company Geely Holding Group, lidar sensor maker Luminar Technologies Inc and automotive company Lotus Technology.
It is also supported by $300 million raised by COVA Acquisition in its initial public offering (IPO) in February last year.
With facilities in China and Europe, ECARX focuses on technology used in car chips, high-definition maps and smart vehicles. The company was founded by Ziyu Shen, its chief executive officer, and Li Shufu, Geely’s chairman, in 2017.
A blank-check firm, or a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), is a listed shell entity that uses the money raised in its IPO to merge with a private company, taking it public in the process.
Chinese listings in the United States have been frozen for months, as Beijing and U.S. regulators have been locked in a dispute over the latter’s demand for complete access to the books of U.S-listed Chinese companies.
(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Vinay Dwivedi)
