It was on Wednesday when Nikola, Electric truck startup faces many difficulties, file with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicated that it had sold up to $100 million worth of stock to Antara Capital, an investment fund previously invested in Nikola, at a valuation of $1.12 per share. Shares closed Wednesday at $1.50 a share on the stock market, $1.12 a share higher, meaning that Nikola is selling part of its business to investors at a discount. Nikola said the deal is part of a plan to offer $100 million in a new public offering at the same price of $1.12 per share, Antara will receive the rest if the entire 100 is available. million dollars not sold to the public. Shares hovered at $1.24 per share on Tuesday afternoon. The message seems to be that Nikola needs new money and possibly fast.
Or at least this is one way press release last Thursday describe how the money will be spent:
Nikola now intends to use the net proceeds from the public offering and the registered direct offering simultaneously for working capital and other general corporate purposes.
Reutersmeanwhile, Friday report that Nikola had about $123 million in cash as of last Tuesday and an additional $85 million in limited cash on hand. Today, auto news speak that the $100 million stock sale went as follows:
Nikola, one of the first electric vehicle companies to list shares through a special purpose acquisition or reverse merger SPAC, sold 30 million shares. The remaining 60 million shares belong to Antara Capital LP, the company’s convertible bondholder.
Once dubbed the “Tesla of the trucking industry,” some industry observers said raising capital was unfavorable.
“It’s not a good sign if you have to sell down stocks; the current environment hurts them,” Michael Ramsey, transportation and mobility analyst at Gartner Inc., told Automotive News.
G/O Media can receive commission
Nikola, you will remember, once really thought I was the Tesla of trucking, both named after Nikola Tesla and everything, although that was before Tesla shot to the moon and Nikola almost shot to the ground. Today, the assets of the two companies could hardly be more disparate, with Tesla worth about $600 billion and Nikola worth a little more than 0.1% of that, according to the market.
Tesla also does not spend time groping for a few million dollars to maintain operations, while Nikola has quite a lot. give up predicting what will happen to it. I would say that Nikola managed to endure longer than perhaps anyone expected, but at this point, that still doesn’t say much.
