Lucid Motors has received another $1.5bn in funding from its largest shareholder, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, giving the Californian electric vehicle start-up vital new cash to navigate a global slowdown in demand and launch a mass-market SUV.
The PIF, which owns about 60 per cent of Lucid, would buy $750mn in convertible preferred stock and provide a delayed draw loan facility of $750mn through an affiliate investment company called Ayar, according to a statement on Monday. The funding comes on top of a $1bn injection in March and raises the total that PIF has invested to approximately $8bn.
Lucid shares rose 7 per cent in after-hours trading. Its shares have fallen 53 per cent in the past 12 months and 70 per cent since the company first listed in the US via a special purpose acquisition company merger in July 2021.