Swedish electric carmaker Polestar has secured another major fund raising, this time a $US400 million (approximately $A570 million) equity investment to help secure its financial stability.
Polestar, which is jointly owned by Volvo Cars and Volvo’s parent company Geely Holding, said this week it received $US200 million equity investments from Feathertop Funding Limited, a special purpose vehicle consolidated to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and also from Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited.
Neither entity will own more than 10 per cent of Polestar’s outstanding equity upon closing of the transactions.
The investment follows a $US300 million equity investment from Spain’s BBVA and France’s Natixis in December, as well as a loan agreement worth up to $US600 million with Geely Holding, also announced in December.
The investments are hoped to support the company as it endures a cash crunch stemming from the global decline in electric vehicle (EV) demand.
“Following the new equity financing and the funding announcements in December, and with the support of Geely Holding, we continue to make progress on enhancing our liquidity position and strengthening our balance sheet,” said Michael Lohscheller, Polestar CEO.
“With a record year of retail sales behind us, we are fully focused on creating a stronger Polestar.”
Polestar focuses on the premium end of the EV market, with its popular Polestar 2 now joined by two higher priced models, the Polestar 3 and 4, and to be followed by the Polestar 5.
