Proterra to go public via merger with ArcLight
Proterra, the U.S. manufacturer of electric buses, has announced its initial public offering through a merger with investment firm ArcLight Clean Transportation. Existing investor Daimler Trucks backs the deal.
The IPO is expected to raise approximately $648 million for Proterra and an enterprise value of $1.6 billion. The partners aim to close the transaction in the first half of the year. The stock is then expected to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol PTRA. According to Proterra, company president Jack Allen will also lead the new company.
The transaction will also be flanked by a $415 million capital increase by key investors (a so-called PIPE). The backers include Daimler Trucks. The German group’s commercial vehicle division is not only an existing investor but has also had a strategic partnership with Proterra since 2018.
The manufacturer intends to invest the fresh capital in its growth. Specifically, Proterra cites the expansion of its R&D activities and its battery program’s expansion as goals. With the latter program, the U.S.-based company aims to reduce the cost of next-generation batteries while designing them to be suitable for all commercial vehicle segments’ electrification. To date, Proterra is known to be active primarily in the electric bus market.
“This transaction enables Proterra to take the next step towards our mission of advancing EV technology to deliver the world’s best-performing commercial vehicles,” says Jack Allen. Proterra’s latest financials read as follows: For 2020, the company reported “expected revenue” of $193 million and a backlog worth $750 million. Gross margin has increased 26 per cent in three years, according to the manufacturer.
Proterra, meanwhile, has built its business on three pillars: ‘Proterra Powered’ offers battery systems and electrification solutions for commercial vehicle manufacturers; ‘Proterra Transit’ is said player in the North American electric transit bus market, and ‘Proterra Energy’ specializes in turnkey charging and energy management solutions. The company claims to have “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. It also has a research and development lab in Silicon Valley. A few weeks ago, the manufacturer announced it had opened a new battery production line at its California plant in Los Angeles County.
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