Ayar Third Investment Company, a PIF affiliate, will buy $1 billion in convertible preferred stock and will be able to convert the preferred stock into about 280 million shares, according to a regulatory filing with the U.S. securities regulator.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) owns 60.5% of Lucid, the electric vehicle maker. The PIF has invested $5.4 billion in Lucid as part of a strategy to diversify the Kingdom’s economy beyond oil.
Lucid, a California-based company headed by former Tesla executive Peter Rawlinson, expects to make 9,000 units in 2024, compared with the 8,428 vehicles last year. Lucid’s Air luxury sedans compete with Tesla’s Model S and luxury EVs from Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Porsche, among other brands.
Due to weaker than expected demand and lagging production levels, Lucid’s market value has steadily declined since a high of $55 billion in November 2021. It currently stands at $2.76 billion.
However, thanks to Saudi investment it has sufficient liquidity “at least until 2025” and forecast $1.5 billion in capital spending in 2024 as it pushes to launch its Gravity SUV line later this year. The company had $4.8 billion in available funds at the end of 2023, including $4.3 billion in cash.
Other significant investors in Lucid include Vanguard, BlackRock, State Street and Geode Capital Management.
On this latest PIF affiliated investment, Lucid Group CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson commented, “We are extremely pleased to receive this strong, continued support from the PIF, as we work to solidify our place as the world’s leading EV technology company. We continue to invest for the long term in both our technology and our vertically integrated manufacturing capabilities, with PIF’s support a key differentiator. With their support, we remain focused upon accelerating our growth via deliveries, executing key business initiatives with relentless focus upon cost, and launching our game-changing Gravity SUV later this year.”
