New backer chasing EV upside delays Carbon Revolution US listing
Geelong-based lightweight wheel maker Carbon Revolution’s arduous path to a listing on the Nasdaq exchange has been delayed in its final stages after a United States investment fund agreed to inject $US110 million ($171 million) into the group.
Orion Infrastructure Capital, which has $US3.5 billion under management, is a new backer wanting to capture the potential upside for Carbon Revolution’s lighter wheels made from carbon fibre, increasingly sought after by electric vehicle makers. Carbon Revolution says its wheels weigh about 45 per cent less than aluminum wheels, and this lower weight helps electric vehicles extend their range by up to 10 per cent.
A meeting to vote on US special purpose acquisition company Twin Ridge Capital’s buyout deal with Carbon Revolution, which was due to be held on September 26, has been delayed until October 3 to allow shareholders to assess the implications of the new investment by Orion.
Orion will hold a 19.99 per cent stake in the merged entity. Carbon Revolution has revised the merger ratio which was in place with Twin Ridge of 0.0877 shares in the merged entity per Carbon Revolution share, down to 0.064.
Carbon Revolution CEO Jake Dingle at the lightweight wheel maker’s factory at Geelong.
Carbon Revolution also says the rising level of industrial action in the United States is “an emerging risk in the industry”. The United Auto Workers has been stepping up strike action at three plants run by Ford, General Motors and Stellantis in Detroit as part of a broader campaign to protect workers in the transition to electric vehicles, which the union predicts could strip out 35,000 jobs. Industry pioneers in EVs such as Tesla do not have a unionised workforce.
It has been a long road for
Read more on afr.com
