Lightning eMotors completes merger with GigCapital3, goes public

LOVELAND — Lightning eMotors has completed its merger with Palo Alto, California, based GigCapital3 Inc. and will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange Friday.

The combined company has changed its name to Lightning eMotors, and its stock will begin trading under the ticker symbol “ZEV,” with warrants trading under the symbol “ZEV.WS.”

The deal was first announced in December, in a deal that at the time valued Lightning at $823 million.

GigCapital3 stockholders approved the combination April 21, and the closing comes less than a year after the company filed an initial public offering on May 18, 2020. GigCapital3 formed as a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, a shell entity formed with the intention of going public, then merging with another company, enabling that company to go public without its own initial public offering.

Lightning eMotors provides commercial electric vehicles for fleets.

Lightning eMotors has grown rapidly, leasing 231,000 square feet in The Forge, the former Hewlett-Packard Co. campus in southwest Loveland, with an option for additional space.

BofA Securities Inc. served as exclusive financial adviser in the transaction, and King & Spalding LLP served as legal adviser to Lightning eMotors. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Nomura Securities International Inc. and BofA Securities Inc. are serving as joint placement agents on the equity and convertible financing, and Mayer Brown is serving as legal counsel to the placement agents. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. and Nomura Greentech also served as joint financial advisers to GigCapital3. DLA Piper LLP (US) is serving as legal adviser to GigCapital3. ICR LLC is serving as communications advisor for Lightning eMotors.

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