Lucid’s stock dips as automaker seeks $3B with help from Saudi’s PIF

Shares of electric automaker, Lucid (NASDAQ:) plummeted almost 15% at the open Thursday morning after the company announced after hours Wednesday that it plans to raise about $3 billion through a stock offering with nearly two-thirds of the funds coming from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Lucid announced that PIF, which owns over 60% of the company, has agreed to buy 265.7 million shares through a private placement. The deal is worth about $1.8B, and it suggests a price of approximately $6.80 per Lucid share, lower than the stock’s closing price of $7.76 on Wednesday.

The remainder will be raised from a public offering of 173.5M shares of common stock.

Lucid intends to use the net proceeds from the public offering, as well as from the private placement by its majority stockholder for general corporate purposes, which may include, among other things, capital expenditures and working capital.

“The secondary offering will probably be ok as there’s a lot of ESG dollars looking for investments,” said Louis Navellier, chief investment officer at Navellier.

“That, along with money from the Saudis, will ensure Lucid survives a couple of more years. But their burn rate needs to fall fast. There’s a glut of EVs for sale in the U.S. and competitors are cutting prices and offering discounts,” he said.

Shares of LCID are down 13.81% in mid-day trading on Thursday.