Chinese EV company CH-AUTO to go public via $1.7 billion SPAC deal

(Reuters) - Chinese electric vehicle company CH-AUTO Technology Corp Ltd said on Monday it had agreed to go public with a U.S. blank-check firm in a deal valued at nearly $1.7 billion, including debt.

The deal with Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp IV comprises an equity value of $1.25 billion and a net debt of $460 million, the companies said.

A special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) is a listed firm with no business operations but a pool of capital that it uses to merge with a private company that it takes public.

SPAC Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp raised https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/06/29/2255246/0/en/Mountain-Crest-Acquisition-Corp-IV-Announces-Pricing-of-50-Million-Initial-Public-Offering.html $50 million in an initial public offering in June last year.

"The past two years have been quite challenging for us. We had to reduce our operations by slowing down the businesses of manufacturing of vehicles and automotive parts," said Qun Lu, founder and chief executive officer of CH-AUTO.

"By entering into this definitive merger agreement with Mountain Crest, we expect to see a positive and rebounding impact."

The combined company plans to operate under the name CH Auto Inc and list on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2022 with Lu at the helm of the combined company.

(Reporting by Mehnaz Yasmin in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)