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Polestar SPAC: Everything you need to know about Polestar stock

Article By: ,  Former Senior Financial Writer
October 6, 2021 3:10 PM

Polestar SPAC: When will Polestar stock go public?  

Polestar went public via a merger with a SPAC on June 24, listing on the Nasdaq under the ticker PSNY. On the first day of trading, shares closed at $13.

Learn about what SPAC deals are

Proceeds from the SPAC deal were expected to be $800 million from Gores Guggenheim and $250 million from private investment in public equity (PIPE) funding - the merger ended up raising $890 million. 

 See other upcoming IPOs and SPACs

How much is Polestar worth?

Polestar's market capitalisation is around $19 billion as of July 28th, based on a share price of $8.99. This is less than it's SPAC valuation, which put the company's worth at approximately $20 billion. Typically all SPACs are priced at $10 initially, with additional warrants sold at $11.50 each.

How to trade Polestar stock

You can trade Polestar in the same way as any other share on the market. Just follow these quick steps to get started:

  1. Open a City Index account, or log in if you’re already a customer
  2. Search for the company you want to trade in our award-winning platform
  3. Choose your position and size, and your stop and limit levels
  4. Place the trade

Alternatively, if you’re not ready to trade live markets, you can set up a free demo account to trade in a no-risk environment. 

Open a demo account now.

What does Polestar do?

Polestar is an electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer based in Gothenburg, Sweden. The company was established in 2017 and has grown significantly due to the influence of its parent company Volvo Cars.

Polestar is known for creating high-performance cars with cutting-edge electric technology – it produces both hybrid and fully electric cars. The company has two award-winning electric performance cars, the Polestar 1 and Polestar 2, which are already on roads across Europe, North America and Asia. It has plans to launch three new models by 2024.

How does Polestar make money?

Polestar makes money through the sale of its cars and subsequent upgrades. Polestar currently has two cars in its portfolio:

  • The Polestar 1 is a low-volume electric performance hybrid, with an electric range of 124km – the longest of any hybrid car in the world. The car costs over $150,000
  • The Polestar 2 is an electric performance fastback, which is the company’s first fully-electric, high-volume car. The car starts retailing at $59,900 and has a range of 260 miles

It delivered approximately 10,000 vehicles in 2020 and expects to sell approximately 290,000 vehicles per year by 2025.

Polestar’s revenue is generated via digital sales. The company’s website enables customer to complete the end-to-end order process themselves, but they can also visit a ‘Polestar Spaces’ to see and test the car before they buy online. Currently Polestar has over 40 Spaces across 10 markets.

Is Polestar profitable?

Polestar is not yet profitable according to the Volvo Cars Annual Report 2020. The subsidiary had a total loss for the year of MSEK 2,691 million – $307.87 million. Over the same period, Polestar earned MSEK 5,540 million ($645 million) in revenue.

Source: Volvo Cars Annual Report 2020

Although Polestar is not yet profitable, this isn’t necessarily going to be a deterrent for investors. Polestar’s $20 billion valuation is approximately 3x 2023 revenue expectations and 1.5x 2024 revenue estimates, and about 38x its 2020 revenue. As a comparison, Tesla trades at about 19.96x its 2020 revenue.

Discover how to read a company's earnings report

What is Polestar's business strategy?

Polestar believes the deal with Guggenheim will enable the company to accelerate future growth, build its strategy and aid its missing toward sustainable mobility. The money raised through the SPAC will be used to fund investment in new models and help Polestar expand its operations and markets.

There is no news yet of what dividends Polestar investors are likely to receive. As the SPAC financing is going toward a rapid expansion, it’s unlikely there will be any for a while as most growth companies reinvest profits rather than distributing them to shareholders.

The Polestar 3, an electric performance SUV, is slated for future production after a design was released in 2020. The Polestar 3 would directly compete with the Tesla Model S. This release would be quickly followed by two other models, to achieve the company’s goal of three new cars before 2024.

In April 2021, Polestar has announced its intention to create a truly climate-neutral car by 2030. This would include an interior built from environment-friendly materials, including recycled PET bottles, reclaimed fishing nets, and recycled cork vinyl. Polestar is also currently the only EV manufacturer in the world to use blockchain-traced cobalt, meaning that no artisanal cobalt can its supply chain – artisanal cobalt mining has been maligned for its environmental, social and human rights abuses.

Over the next few years, Polestar has plans to add more Polestar Spaces, and expand into more markets to support future volume opportunities.

Who owns Polestar?

Polestar is owned by Volvo Group and affiliates of Geely Chairman Eric LI. The company is also backed by activist and actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Volvo is also getting ready to list, in an IPO that could value it at $30 billion. Approximately $10 billion of that figure is attributed to its ownership of Polestar.

Polestar has raised a total of $550 million across two funding rounds, the last of which was in July 2021. The funding came from investors including Volvo Cars Group, Zibo Financial Holding, Chongqing Chengxing Equity, SK Holding, Zibo Hightech Industrial Investment and I Cube Capital.

Following the deal, current Polestar equity holders will retain around 94% ownership in Polestar and roll 100% of their equity interests into the new company.

Board of directors of Polestar

  • Hakan Samuelsson, chairman of the board
  • Thomas Ingenlath, CEO
  • Carla De Geyseleer, board member
  • Donghui (Daniel) Li, board member
  • David Richter, board member
  • Zhe (David) Wei, board member
  • James (Jim) Rowan, board member
  • Karen Francis, board member
  • Dr Karl-Thomas Neumann, boardmember

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