UK electric vehicle maker Arrival eyes faster expansion after $13bn Nasdaq IPO

Shares in Arrival (NASDAQ:ARVL), the Oxford-based electric bus and van maker, rose on the first day of trading after completing its US$13bn (£12.5bn) US initial public offer. In what was one of the largest ever UK tech flotations, the company merged with ‘blank check’ vehicle CIIG Merger Corp. Arrival's stock was listed at $22 at the point the deal closed, and rose to US$22.8 by the close. Founder and CEO Denis Sverdlov, whose 76% stake is now worth US$9.8bn, said: “Going public is an opportunity that will allow us to continue to scale globally, bringing these products to more and more cities and people.” The company, which says it has developed a unique new method for the design and production of electric vehicles (EV) that enables it to build quality vehicles for a similar price to fossil fuel equivalents, said it plans to use its US$660mln gross proceeds to ramp up delivery of its electric vehicles and expand its global network of its ‘microfactories’. Currently, it has what it calls a 'microfactory' plants in Bicester near Oxford in the UK, plus recently opened another in its North American base in Charlotte in the USA and another in South Carolina. Microfactories are “rapidly scalable and enable decentralized production that can be deployed in local communities, hiring local talent, paying local taxes and using the local supply chain... designed for the local region’s mobility requirements”. The listing comes after these US openings and following customer trials of its latest van and bus products in recent months, with UK public road trials planned with key customers this summer. Its fully electric van, made with lightweight aluminium frame and proprietary composite body panels, offers a substantially lower total cost of ownership, the company says, as well as zero emissions, with hardware and software components upgradeable over time to keep up to date with the latest technology, and a modular battery ranging from 44kWh to 133kWh to allow operators to choose the configuration that best suits their range requirements. Sverdlov, a telecoms tycoon and former Russian deputy minister, founded the business in 2015. Other shareholders include Hyundai Motor, BlackRock and Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin. CIIG Merger Corp is led by former Marvel Entertainment boss Peter Cuneo.