Michael Klein, a former head of corporate and investment banking at Citi, has more recently made a name for himself as a sponsor of special purpose acquisition companies (Spacs) carrying the name Churchill.
His first acquisition in 2019 of business information company Clarivate Analytics has provided a 300% return on IPO capital, with subsequent deals for healthcare business MultiPlan in July 2020 and for education technology company Skillsoft in October producing 25% returns.
On Monday, Klein announced his fourth and biggest transaction to date, confirming that his NYSE-listed Churchill Capital IV (CCIV) will acquire electric vehicle maker Lucid in a deal valued at $11.75 billion.
Lucid is led by chief executive and chief technology officer Peter Rawlinson, previously vice-president of engineering at Tesla and chief engineer for its breakthrough Model S.
The pitch for Lucid is a simple one. This is a company whose listed stock you will be able to buy at a fraction of the valuation of Tesla, but which claims to have second-mover advantage and better technology.