(Yicai) Feb. 21 -- Lotus Technology, the luxury electric carmaker owned by China's Geely Holding, said the firm will go public this week by completing its planned merger with a Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition company.

Lotus Tech is on track to finalize its merger with L Catterton Asia Acquisition tomorrow, the Wuhan-based firm announced yesterday. The new entity will be called Lotus Technology and its American depositary shares will begin trading under the ticker symbol ‘LOT’ on Feb. 23, it added. 

There will be about 670 million shares outstanding after the merger completes, giving Lotus Technology equity valuation close to $7 billion.

“We look forward to accelerating our growth as a listed company, leading the electric transformation of the global luxury BEV market together with L Catterton,” said Feng Qingfeng, chief executive of Lotus Tech.

The proceeds of the IPO will be used to innovate products, develop next-generation auto technologies, expand Lotus Tech’s global distribution network, and for general corporate purposes, the firm said early last year. Since then, it has raised more than USD880 million ahead of going public without disclosing the name of the investors. 

Lotus Tech, once on par with Ferrari and Porsche, faced operational difficulties after shifting its focus to the niche supercar market in the 1990s. The brand changed hands, first being bought by Malaysia’s Proton Holdings in 1996 before Hangzhou-based Geely acquired it in 2017.

Lotus Tech’s models include the sport utility vehicle Eletre and the grand tourer Emeya, and it plans to unveil two new models within the next two years. The firm had global orders of about 17,000 in the first half of 2023, showing promising traction in the luxury EV market.

Editor: Martin Kadiev