One of China’s largest car makers, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., is making plans to tap into the surging market for SPACs.
The multinational company, which owns Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd., Volvo Car Group and several other electric-vehicle brands, is in talks to sponsor a special-purpose acquisition company that could raise $300 million in a Nasdaq initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter.
In addition, the Hangzhou-based group is considering taking one of its European electric-vehicle subsidiaries public by merging it with another SPAC and boosting its valuation sharply, to as much as $40 billion, the people said.
SPACs, also known as blank-check companies, raise money by selling stock publicly and listing on exchanges before finding private businesses to merge with. They have surged in popularity and drawn record sums of money from global investors, Many startups also see mergers with SPACs as a faster and easier way to go public.
More of Asia’s tycoons and investment firms have capitalized on the boom in SPACs on U.S. exchanges this year.
